INSIDER: Jared Wright Isn't Slowing Down Any Time Soon

Jared Wright is fast. He’s so fast, he makes fast people look……not fast.

I knew that he was fast, too. 

From asking people within the organization about him while he was playing collegiately at the University of Denver, many raved about his skating. In watching the Rookie Faceoff in Anaheim this past fall, it was apparent how fast he was. But that’s college hockey. Or rookie tournament hockey. It’s one thing to be fast in those settings. But against NHL players, would that speed stand out as much as it has?

The answer is yes.

Per NHL Edge, Jared Wright has eight speed bursts of 22 miles per hour or greater in 18 games played this season. I mean, that sounds cool. But how does it stack up around the NHL? 

At that rate, Wright would account for 36 of those bursts over the course of an 82-game season. Using last season’s data to account for a full 82-game slate, that would’ve ranked fifth in the NHL, trailing only Connor McDavid, Owen Tippett, Nathan MacKinnon and Tim Stutzle. Not too shabby. 

Wright also has 91 speed bursts this season between 20 and 22 MPH this season. Using the same qualifiers, that would equate to 415 over the course of an 82-game season. McDavid would’ve been the only player with more last season in the entire NHL. By just about any metric, Wright has been one of the best skaters in the league. 

“He just skates and he's making plays,” Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith said of Wright. “Off the rush, his speed is intimidating. Some guys are physical on the forecheck, which he will do, but with his speed, he looks like he's about to get a breakaway at all times. He tracks pucks down and he's found ways to make some big plays for us.”

That, right……Wright……there, is the next step in the process.

It’s one thing to come up into the NHL and skate recklessly. Wright’s speed is naturally not something that many other players have in the league and it’s allowed him to hold his own in the NHL, even as his individual production wasn’t there. His speed allowed him to impact games and hold onto his spot in the lineup, even without the points.

Of late, though, he’s getting the points too. With the primary assist on Scott Laughton’s go-ahead goal in the second period, Wright now has points in three consecutive games. All three were primary assists, directly impacting goals in important games for the Kings. 

As Wright has gained experience in the NHL, the game is starting to slow down for him, which is allowing him to make more plays. It’ll take time. He’ll be a better player next season for what he’s going through now. He’ll continue to get more and more comfortable and he is still extremely young in his professional career, in the grand scheme of things, and will have to continue to round out his game. But the game is coming to him differently today than it was a month ago and that’s been key in his play of late.

“I think so, I think I'm holding on to pucks a little bit longer,” Wright said. “I think, sometimes still, I tend to throw it away when I get on first touch on the forecheck, so just learning to hold on to pucks more when their D comes down. I think I've made the right steps, but I think I can still improve.”

Wright is still in search of his first career NHL goal, but he’s been around the net quite a bit. He thought he might have had it on Wednesday versus St. Louis, but the play was called back for goaltender interference. Eight shots on goal over his last five games and a career-high 13:22 in 5-on-5 time on ice versus Nashville last night. Multiple scoring chances in two of his last four games and he’s continuing to generate chances as he gets more comfortable, on top of a few assists to help the third line produce and support the top guys offensively. 

That TOI number, in the most pivotal game of the season, was pretty telling. 

With 60 seconds remaining last night against Nashville, Wright was on the ice. That’s an unbelievable amount of trust in a player who wasn’t on the team in February. Often, late in games, players like Wright lose their shifts, as teams shorten the bench in tense and important situations. Not last night. In a 2-2 game, in April, against the team the Kings are tied with for the final playoff position, there he was. On the ice, inside the final minute of regulation. 

That kind of trust, for a young player, went a long way.

“I think it gives me a ton of confidence that I can be relied upon and I’ve got to earn that trust each and every night, which I'm trying to do,” Wright said of playing in those moments. “I think our line is doing a heck of a job defensively as well, with Army and Laughty, I'm really lucky that I get to play with such good players.”

That scenario, at times this season, felt extremely unlikely for so many reasons.

To begin this season, the Kings returned a veteran Top-9, with experienced players on the fourth line. Even if a player like Wright were able to crack the roster, for whatever reason, with so many of those kinds of trusted players here, I don’t think there would’ve been much of a chance of seeing a younger player like Wright in those moments. 

However, with the way this season has gone for the Kings, seeing team performance slip as three veteran forwards were traded out during the season, with two more players injured from the Opening Night lineup, they need players to play in those situations and it can't always be the same few. Last night, Wright and his line deserved a late shift and were rewarded with it, as the game eventually went into overtime, with the Kings winning via the shootout. To see Wright involved was really encouraging. 

That’s part of the beauty of it. D.J. Smith likened Wright’s arrival to that of Darren Helm, who played just seven regular-season games in the 2007-08 season, in addition to 67 in the AHL with Grand Rapids. He went on to play 18 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as Detroit won a Stanley Cup.

Now, that end result is obviously ambitious, for a Kings team that has yet to secure a playoff spot. But for Smith, who is from Windsor, ONT, who grew up watching the Red Wings, the situation feels kind of similar, for a younger player coming in and making an impact at the most important time of the season. 

“You never know when it's going to happen,” he said. “I was talking to Kenny [Holland] about this probably a month ago and I remember Darren Helm coming out of nowhere in Detroit. I was a Red Wings fan growing up and I just remember Darren Helm coming out of nowhere and all of a sudden, there he was, flying around, scoring, penalty killing, doing all these things. It kind of reminds me of that. Not that [Wright] came out of nowhere, he's draft pick and the guys down in the minors have done an unreal job with him. The development team, as we know here in LA, is as good as any in the league, developing these players and probably he's here too soon in their mind, but when you perform like this, you get to stay.”

Heading into these final five games, I don't see Wright going anywhere. 

He has earned his spot in the lineup and he's playing better games today than he was when he came up. That kind of growth is important. You sometimes see young players take a dip in their play after the adrenaline of playing your first few NHL games wears off. It's hard to maintain that type of energy but Wright has been able to thus far. 

For a guy who gives you an honest effort, who was drafted by the team and developed through the system, in juniors, college and in the AHL, it's nice to see him find some success. Now, the challenge will only get greater and it would be awesome for him to get a taste of playoff hockey as well in the NHL. He's played in a National Championship game in the NCAA, scoring the game-winning goal with Denver, which certainly helps. But this is a different beast. It's the best of the best and in the most important moment yet, pertaining to getting onto that stage, Wright was involved. And that's a good sign.