The Seattle Kraken are willing to listen on offers for 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright as the team seeks to upgrade their forward group on the wing.
TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger notes the Kraken aren’t in a rush to move Wright but the team is looking to take advantage of their centre depth ahead of the trade deadline.
“Specifically, they’re looking for a top-three winger or a top-six winger,” Dreger explained Thursday on Insider Trading. “Now, if you look at the draft history of the Seattle Kraken, you can see that they’ve drafted well up the middle of the ice. I think of 2022 and getting Shane Wright fourth overall. They feel like they’ve got depth up the middle, so they can use one of these centres as the capital to acquire the winger that I’ve already talked about.
“Teams say that Jason Botterill, the GM of the Seattle Kraken, is listening on Shane Wright. But he is in no rush and understandably, the expected return for Shane Wright is incredibly high.”
The 22-year-old centre has seven goals and 17 points in 49 games this season while seeing limited ice time at 13:43 per game. He posted 19 goals and 44 points in 79 games in his first full NHL season last year.
Wright remains signed through next season at a cap hit of just $886,666 ahead of reaching restricted free agency in 2027.
The Kraken enter play Friday sitting in the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, looking to make the postseason for the second time in five seasons since joining the league.
