So he wanted to help.
The Toronto Maple Leafs forward confirmed Monday that he texted Wright with a note of encouragement moments after the 18-year-old forward was selected with the No. 4 pick by the Seattle Kraken at Bell Centre in Montreal.
Wright, who had 94 points (32 goals, 62 assists) with Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League last season, was projected to go No. 1 to the Montreal Canadiens, but the Canadiens opted instead for forward Juraj Slafkovsky.
The New Jersey Devils then selected defenseman
Simon Nemec
with the No. 2 pick, and the Arizona Coyotes chose forward
Logan Cooley
at No. 3, leaving Wright to be picked by the Kraken.
"I think everyone could see there was a little bit of frustration in him," Marner said at the Zach Hyman Celebrity Classic at the Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto on Monday. "Just wanted to text him saying fourth is a nice pick and there was nothing wrong with going fourth."
Marner would know, having been selected No. 4 by the Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL Draft, behind forward Connor McDavid (No. 1, Edmonton Oilers), forward Jack Eichel (No. 2, Buffalo Sabres) and forward Dylan Strome (No. 3, Arizona Coyotes). The 25-year-old has 455 points (138 goals, 317 assists) in 427 NHL games, so the Kraken will be thrilled if Wright produces similar numbers down the road.
Other notable players who were selected with the No. 4 pick include Hall of Fame forwards Steve Yzerman, Ron Francis, and Paul Kariya, and goalie Roberto Luongo. More recently, there's Cale Makar (2017), who won the Norris Trophy as the League's best defenseman last season as well as the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs after helping the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2001.
"I don't know him that well, but he went to the Hill Academy, and I got to see him there for a couple of months when he was going there before he went to Kingston," said Marner, who is also an alumnus of the Hill Academy. "He's a great kid. He takes a lot of pride in his craft on the ice and off the ice of working hard."
Marner wasn't the only big name to reach out to Wright on draft night, though. Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, also sent a text of support to him.
"So now, you know, it's an exciting opportunity for him to be able to prove himself in the NHL," Marner said. "And, like I said, he's an extremely hard worker.
"He's going to be working hard to try and prove that some teams made the wrong move. That's how it goes sometimes."
