"Nice to be back here," Wright said Monday.
The 18-year-old center had one assist in Seattle's first seven games this season and was sent to Coachella Valley of the AHL, where he scored four goals in five games.
"Obviously it was a really fun two weeks down in Coachella, had a lot of fun," Wright said. "There was a great group of guys, had a lot of success as well and it's nice to be back in Seattle. Nice to be back with the guys here and just nice to be back on the ice here and hopefully ready to go tomorrow for the game."
Wright played for the Kraken against the Montreal Canadiens at Climate Pledge Arena, which set up his return against the team that passed him over with the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Wright was predicted by many to be the top pick in the 2022 draft but fell to No. 4 after the Canadiens selected Juraj Slafkovsky at No. 1, the New Jersey Devils selected Simon Nemec at No. 2 and the Arizona Coyotes selected Logan Cooley at No. 3.
"I'm just going to try to treat it as another game," Wright said. "Obviously, it's my first game back from Coachella and going try to play with confidence if I'm in the lineup and not really think anything extra or special, just take it as a normal hockey game."
He said he hasn't paid attention to the play of Slafkovsky, who has seven points (four goals, three assists) in 20 games for Montreal (12-11-2).
"Trying to really just focus on myself, my own situation," Wright said. "Two different situations with what's going on and stuff so I'm just really more focused on myself and my game and what I'm doing or what I bring to the team."
Finding playing time for Wright has been difficult for Hakstol with the second-year team off to a 15-6-3 start. In his first seven NHL games, Wright averaged 8:06 time on ice.
"Good to have him back with the group," Hakstol said. "He was really upbeat; I think he was excited to be back and had a good practice."
The Kraken sent Wright to the AHL on Nov. 20 after he had been scratched for five consecutive games. He was to remain in the AHL for 14 days for a conditioning assignment. He scored the four goals on 11 shots.
"I definitely gained a lot of confidence down there, was nice to play a lot of high minutes, get a lot of touches and play the puck as well and kind of play my game and be myself and regain the confidence in myself and my abilities and hopefully bring that back up here to Seattle," Wright said. "I'm just taking it one game at time and going to focus on what's here now and not really worry too much about what the future holds."
