NHL Draft | Martin St-Louis called Shane Wright

Clearly, the Canadiens are using all their resources to make the right choice on the 1^er draft rank.

Guillaume Lefrancois
The Press

Shane Wright said Wednesday he spoke with Habs head coach Martin St-Louis.

The call, which took place ten days ago, was obviously not trivial, since they spoke for more than half an hour. Wright, ranked as the top prospect in North America by the National League’s Central Scouting, came away impressed with whoever could become his coach this fall.

“It was positive. Martin is so smart as a coach, he was a smart player and he is a smart coach. There are good young people and I want to be part of what this organization is building, ”explained Wright, Wednesday morning, on the sidelines of a promotional activity on ice at the CH training center.

Six hopefuls participated in this activity, including winger Juraj Slafkovsky and center Logan Cooley, the two other names mentioned as candidates to be claimed in the 1^er row Thursday.

The strategy obviously differs from one hope to another. Slafkovsky, he has not spoken to members of the staff of the Canadian since the evaluation camp in Buffalo, but he will be entitled to a last hour meeting Thursday, the day of the first round.

“I was supposed to meet them yesterday, he explained, but the plane was delayed. Today there are a lot of things on the schedule, so tomorrow we will have a meeting, I don’t know who will be there. »

Special to still have a meeting on the day of the repechage? “I don’t know, but I like it! “, he launched, with his big smile.

Cooley meanwhile indicated that he had not received a call from St. Louis, and has no meeting scheduled for this week in Montreal.

Lecavalier too

For Wright, this call from St. Louis is in addition to a call from Vincent Lecavalier, which took place at the beginning of last week. Lecavalier spoke about this conversation in a press briefing on Monday.

Wright clearly appreciated the initiative.

“I see that they are doing their homework, they want to know what I am as a player, said number 51. He spoke about his experiences. It was different in his case, he was going to Tampa, which was a small market at the time.

“It was an incredible conversation. It was special to talk to him. We talked about his experiences. As a former first choice, he understands what I’ve been going through this year and the past few months. »

Slafkovsky’s humor

For his part, Slafkovsky once again used his – already – legendary sense of humor to avoid less comfortable questions.

Last month, in Buffalo, the Slovak told us that he would see himself well in Montreal, in a line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. “It would make a pretty crazy trio [a pretty sick line]. I think I’m the biggest of the three. They need someone bigger to get the pucks. And they are really skill players. That would make a good combination! “, he had answered us.

However, on Wednesday, as part of an activity with minor hockey players, the six hopefuls of the day were on the ice in Brossard along with Jonathan Drouin… and Suzuki. So, how was the conversation with CH number 14?

“It was fun. I purposely stood next to him so the papers would have a story to write,” he joked.