The Windsor Spitfires have strengthened their lineup ahead of the OHL trade deadline.
With the deadline passing at noon Tuesday, the Spitfires confirmed that they have acquired forward Shane Wright from the Kingston Frontenacs. The team had announced the trade on social media late Monday night.
Wright, who was drafted by the NHL's Seattle Kraken in the first round of the 2022 Entry Draft, served as captain of Team Canada's gold-medal winning squad at the recent IIHF Men's World Juniors in Halifax.
Windsor is also getting Kingston's conditional 14th-round draft pick for 2025.
https://twitter.com/SpitsHockey/status/1612642927905280000
In return, the Spits are sending forward Ethan Miedema and defenceman Gavin McCarthy to the Frontenacs, plus a total of seven draft picks.
Kingston will receive a second and third-round pick for this year, a fourth and sixth-round pick for 2024, a conditional fifth-round pick for 2024, a fourth-round selection in 2025, and a conditional pick for 2025.
Wright, a Burlington native, turned 19 on Thursday and reportedly had several suitors looking for his services. Spitfires Head Coach Marc Savard told SiriusXM NHL Network Radio about how he found out about the trade.
"We had already made a couple of moves...so I thought we were done," Savard told host Gord Stellick. "I was at home yesterday and I got a call from our GM...Bill Bowler and our head scout Frank Evola, and they said 'Come on in, we need to talk to you'. So I went in and it was kind of a neat process. I talked to Shane yesterday on the phone, his agent, his family...when we found out that Shane chose us, obviously very exciting times. And we're getting one of the best of the junior players, one of the best this year."
This is the fourth trade made by the Spitfires since the calendar year began, as the defending OHL Western Conference champions are positioning themselves for a deeper playoff run this spring.
So far this season, Wright has scored 32 goals for 94 points, with a plus-minus rating of 23 and just 22 penalty minutes. At the World Juniors, Wright scored four goals for seven points.
Miedema, from Cobourg, scored 11 goals for 31 points with Windsor this season. McCarthy was an eighth-round pick for Windsor in the 2021 OHL Priority Selection and currently plays for the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL.
The team is back on the ice Thursday night when the Saginaw Spirit visit the WFCU Centre.