DENVER – Forward
Jared Wright of the University of Denver hockey team has signed a two-year, entry-level contract beginning in 2025-26 with the Los Angeles Kings, the NHL squad announced on Monday. Wright will report to Los Angeles' American Hockey League affiliate, the Ontario Reign, on an amateur tryout for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
Wright, 22, registered 17 points on nine goals and eight assists while playing in all 44 games during the Pioneers' 2024-25 season. He tied for fourth on the squad with a plus-17 rating and blocked 28 shots to help DU reach its second-straight NCAA Frozen Four.
A 2024 NCAA National Champion, Wright was a finalist for the NCHC Sportsmanship Award as he had just six penalty minutes during the season and took only eight infractions and 16 penalty minutes across his three years at Denver. He ranked tied for ninth on the team in goals in 2024-25 and had three point streaks of three games last season.
The Burnsville, Minnesota, native skated in his 100th career game on Jan. 11 against Miami and recorded his 50th career point in a contest versus the MU RedHawks as well with an assist on Feb. 22 in Oxford, Ohio. Wright recorded career highs with two assists (tied) and three points (1g/2a) on Feb. 1 versus Omaha and posted a plus-4 rating in that contest as well—tied for the highest plus-minus in a game this year by a Pioneer.
He registered an assist in three-straight NCHC postseason games from March 16-22, tying a career best, and scored in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday against eventual-national champion Western Michigan. The marker was his second in his eight career NCAA Tournament contests, as he also tallied the game-winning goal in the 2024 National Championship Game against No. 1 Boston College in his home state of Minnesota on April 13, 2024.
Wright posted personal highs during his sophomore season in 2023-24 with 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points. He led the team with a .205 shooting percentage and tied for first on DU with five game-winning goals. The right wing went on a career-long, six-game point streak from Nov. 3-19, 2023 (4g/3a) and scored at least one goal in four straight outings from Feb. 17-March 1, 2024 (5g/0a).
As a freshman in 2022-23, he was second among rookies on the squad with 12 points (8g/4a). He scored his first goal and also added an assist for his first multi-point outing on Nov. 11, 2023 at North Dakota and tallied twice the next night versus the Fighting Hawks to complete a four-point weekend (3g/1a), earning NCHC Forward of the Week honors. He also tallied twice on Dec. 3, 2022 against Arizona State for his second of three career multi-goal efforts.
A back-to-back winner of DU hockey's Dr. Ken Bredesen Most Sportsmanlike Player award (2023-2024), Wright was also named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and was a NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete in each of his three seasons on the DU hilltop. He was also recognized as an AHCA All-American Scholar in 2022-23.
He finishes his collegiate career with 54 points (32 goals and 22 assists), 16 penalty minutes and a plus-35 rating in 122 games. He skated in each of his final 86 games dating back to March 17, 2023 after missing six outings at the end of his rookie regular season with an upper-body injury.
Prior to joining Denver, Wright played one season with the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League (2021-22) and spent three years with St. Thomas Academy (2018-2021), where he served as the team captain as a high school senior and was top 20 in military leadership at the school.
Wright was selected by Los Angeles in the sixth round at No. 169 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. He attended the Kings' prospect development camp each of the last three summers.
