Sounds like Shane Wright would welcome a trade to the Canucks
They say where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
And there does appear to be some smoke billowing around Shane Wright and the Vancouver Canucks.
The Burlington, Ont. native was expected to be the No. 1 pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, but instead slipped to fourth. The Seattle Kraken snagged him, in what looked like a steal for the NHL’s newest franchise.
Wright began his first full pro season at age 19, scoring 47 points in 59 AHL games, to go with five points in eight NHL games. The following year, he scored 44 points (19-25-44) in 79 games in 2024-25, but his production slipped last season to 27 points (12-15-27) in 74 games.
And now the 22-year-old centre wants to be traded.
“I can confirm that we have had positive conversations with GM Jason Botterill, and he has agreed to move Shane this summer to a team in need of a top young centre,” Wright’s agent, Kurt Overhardt told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman earlier this month.
The Canucks could use a top young centre. And it seems Vancouver has caught Wright’s eye.
Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma is reporting that Vancouver is Wright’s “preferred destination.” That could be a moot point, because Wright doesn’t have trade protection in his contract. But it does underline the fact that the Canucks are a good fit for Wright.
It won’t be hard to get regular minutes with the Canucks, given the team’s paper-thin depth at centre. That wasn’t the case in Seattle last season, as Wright was effectively the Kraken’s fourth-line centre, behind Chandler Stephenson, Matty Beniers, and Freddy Gaudreau.
The Canucks, meanwhile, could take a home-run swing with a young player that might just need a change of scenery in order to flourish. If he figures it out in Vancouver, you have a No. 1 or No. 2 centre in your lineup for the next decade.
What is Shane Wright’s trade value?
What’s Shane Wright worth? (Simon Fearn/Imagn Images)
The ask for Wright is apparently high — the Kraken were looking at players like Zeev Buium and Tom Willander according to CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal. Buium should be a non-starter, given his potential.
But should the Canucks be so quick to say no to a swap for Willander? Wright is only one year older than Willander, who the Canucks picked 11th overall in 2023. What about instead a trade involving Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Jake DeBrusk — who says no to that?
Wright has one more year left on his entry-level deal, so he’s affordable. The Canucks do have centres coming, in Caleb Malhotra and Braeden Cootes, but neither is expected to be in the lineup regularly next season.
There’s also no guarantee that Elias Pettersson is back with the team, and unfortunately you can’t reliably count on Filip Chytil to remain healthy. That leaves Marco Rossi and Aatu Räty.
In short, it leaves the Canucks in a good spot to take a flyer on a player like Wright.