“I want to be the first pick”: NHL Draft Home Stretch Shane Light

There was so much talk this season that it will be the first overall draft. You could have heard it even if you buried your head in the sand. What does it feel like to be number one?
I think there are two sides to that. It’s cool and special to hear people say it about you and your game. But I think the pressure is great. There is a lot of pressure to meet those expectations, respond to what people believe you can do, and become the players they expect from you. It has two sides, but it’s certainly pretty cool.

Can I be automatically disappointed if I don’t go first overall?
I’m sure it will happen. Anyone at the high end of the draft would say they’re disappointed that they didn’t go first, and I would be the same. But in the end, I think I was selected for the NHL franchise and realized that dream. So even if I don’t go first-obviously I want to go first-but I’m still on the NHL team and I’m fulfilling that dream.

Montreal fans have already expressed excitement about you. Do you feel and hear it?
Yeah, I think I could go to Montreal with that incredible franchise, and arguably the best fan base across the NHL and having it as a potential landing point for me really It’s exciting. Whenever they can play for the Original Six franchise with their fan base, the history of the organization doesn’t come very often. I’m definitely very excited about that potential opportunity.

If Montreal is your destination, do you need to work on French?
[Laughs.] My French isn’t very good, so if that’s where I went, yeah, I definitely have to work on it.

Can I order meals in French?
Maybe you can.

It’s a good start. What does it mean to you to go first overall?
That makes a lot of sense to me. That’s what I’ve been working hard on. That’s what I’ve been preparing, spending all my time and putting all my work into it. It makes a lot of sense that every interview, every expectation, every pressure in the last year and the last two years, especially in the end, everything is rewarded. But I think it’s one thing to create a draft first and to prove to people that it’s worth it. That’s also what I really want to show. If I was the first pick in the draft, I would like to prove that I deserve that pick, but I deserve that distinction. I need to get my position on the team. Hopefully I have to earn everything I have in the NHL. But that means a lot.

Are you excited that you no longer have to talk about drafts after July 7th?
[Laughs.] Uh, yeah. absolutely.

Sorry to add to all the stories, but that’s a big deal.
[Laughs.] No, no. It’s okay. Thank you for talking. Thank you very much.