It would be fair to wonder if this is a case of “good headline, bad idea.” But on this occasion, this idea about a trade between two Pacific Northwest rivals might actually have some sand to it.

There has been plenty of chatter about Seattle Kraken’s centre Shane Wright of late, and about whether or not he’s quietly requested a trade behind the scenes. The word on the street is that Wright is unhappy with his ice-time and the lack of opportunity as a top-six centre for the Kraken, and Elliotte Friedman more or less confirmed this speculation.

Speaking on an episode of his 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman said, “The Shane Wright stuff, that he’s available and out there and the Kraken are considering moving him — that’s real… Initially, you kind of wonder, OK, is the agent rattling cages here, or something like that. And I was told no, like this is real.”

And if the interest in trading Wright is real, then the Vancouver Canucks should be really interested in making a bid. After all, he’s a young centre looking for a top-six opportunity, and the Canucks are still very much on the lookout for a centre with long-term top-six potential. There’s a match to be made here.

For a player who has only played 145 NHL games as of this writing, spread across four seasons, and only achieved 69 points in those games thus far, Wright is a bit of a surprisingly household name. This is largely because he spent the bulk of his pre-draft seasons as the presumed first overall selection before falling to fourth overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Wright made headlines for the glare he supposedly shot at the Montreal Canadiens, who picked Juraj Slafkovsky with the first pick, though it’s debatable whether that actually happened or not. The point is that, even though he’s struggled a bit since arriving in the NHL, everyone already knew who he was when he got there.

Wright, who turned 22 a couple of weeks ago, has had a very up-and-down career so far. He was clearly not ready for NHL action as of 2022, but at 18, he had only that or a return to the OHL as options. The Kraken kept him up at first, then used a conditioning stint loophole to send him to the AHL for a while, before finally relenting and reassigning him to the Windsor Spitfires for the remainder of the regular season. Then, it was back to the Coachella Valley Firebirds for a run to the Calder Cup Finals.

The Kraken got permission to assign the 19-year-old Wright to the AHL for his second season, and he wound up breaking out at that level with 49 points in 57 games, along with five points in eight games across various NHL call-ups. The Firebirds once again reached the Calder Cup Finals, and although Wright suffered an injury along the way, he still managed 13 points in 12 postseason games. He seemed ready for his proper NHL arrival.

With eight games each in his previous two seasons, Wright had lost his Calder Trophy eligibility, but 2024-25 was still his rookie season for all intents and purposes. And, that said, it was a fairly successful one. Wright stayed in the big leagues all year and put up 44 points in 79 games. Had he been an actual rookie, those 44 points would have tied him with Cutter Gauthier for fifth place in rookie scoring.

But two things also happened in 2024-25 that got in the way of Wright’s ability to sustain that momentum. One was the Kraken signing Chandler Stephenson to an outsized UFA contract that almost obligated them to play him as a top-six centre moving forward. The other was the simultaneous breakout of Matty Beniers, the centre drafted at second overall the year before Wright.

As the 2024-25 season turned into the current 2025-26 campaign, it became clear which centre the Kraken preferred. Wright became the consistent third centre in the rotation. In 2024-25, Wright averaged 14:04 to Beniers’ 18:41 and Stephenson’s 19:31. And through 50 games of this current season, Wright has somehow managed to lose ground. He’s playing an average of just 13:46 this year, to Beniers’ 19:42 and Stephenson’s 19:45.

In fact, Wright’s ice time has dwindled continually downward, with him playing a season-low 9:47 against the Pittsburgh Penguins this past Monday.

Conveniently enough, that rundown of Wright’s career to date also neatly sets up exactly why the Canucks would be interested in him, and it’s all about that untapped 1C potential.

Heading into his draft year, Wright was always assumed to have top-line upside. You don’t get talked about as a potential first overall selection without that. Now, Wright was never hyped to the level of a Sidney Crosby or a Macklin Celebrini, but the assumption was that Wright profiled as a 1C type, at the very least, and had some potential to be a franchise player.

Some of that shine has obviously worn off in the interim. But not all of it, and there’s an argument to be made that the circumstances of his place on the Kraken depth chart have conspired to slow his progress. That Wright managed to produce so well last season after being yo-yoed around the previous years, mostly from the third line, and at the age of 20, speaks volumes to his considerable offensive skills.

It is true that Wright has struggled on the defensive side of the game. Even in 2025-26, with his minutes decidedly sheltered, Wright is in the mid-40s on stats like Corsi, Expected Goals, and control of shots and scoring chances. That, more than anything, is why Beniers has skyrocketed past Wright in the Kraken’s estimation.

But, to be blunt, that’s less important than one might think. The Canucks’ interest in Wright should be all about the top-end, and that top-end is all about scoring.

A team needs a top-line centre, and a good one, in order to be competitive. There’s ample debate about whether or not Elias Pettersson still qualifies, and even if he does, he may not any longer by the time the Canucks are aiming to contend again.

There are plenty of 2C candidates kicking around, like Marco Rossi and Braeden Cootes or even a healthy Filip Chytil. But if there’s an obvious missing piece in the Canucks’ rebuild plans, it’s top-line scoring talent, and a future 1C in particular.

Typically, those sorts of players mostly come from the draft and are mostly obtained by teams with high draft picks. The Canucks will achieve a high pick in 2026, but the top offensive players in this draft are wingers.

The opportunity to pick such a player up via trade should not be overlooked. Yes, it’s true that Wright is no longer a ‘sure thing,’ and may not end up as a 1C at the end of the day. But, then again, no ‘sure thing’ 22-year-old future 1C is ever going to be available via trade.

For the Canucks, a true future 1C is either going to come from a future draft or is going to come from taking a risk on the former potential of someone who hasn’t quite realized it yet. And on that front, Wright is the only name we know to definitively be on the market.

To steal such a player from a divisional rival would be the icing on the cake. But that’s also a reason why the asking price may not be to Vancouver’s liking.

Friedman mentioned that the Kraken are similarly looking for top-line talent in a deal. “That’s one thing Seattle has always looked at, is trying to find a dynamic offensive player. That’s kind of one of the things that they’ve never really had,” Friedman exposited, “They have Beniers, who’s a talented guy, but they’ve never had that kind of young dynamic scorer. I think what they’re hoping is that maybe Wright can get them that and see where it goes.”

Which sounds like a tough start to any Vancouver/Seattle negotiations. The Canucks are notoriously short on dynamic offence right now, and what they have, they can’t really afford to give up, especially given that Friedman specifies a “young” talent.

With the Kraken only two points back of a playoff spot as of this writing, one wonders whether they could be enticed to take an older player, were that player good enough. On that front, we’re thinking something around a Conor Garland-for-Wright deal, although that might feel awkward, as Garland has made it his personal mission to fight as many Kraken as possible these past few seasons.

If the Kraken insist on someone young and dynamic, however, the Canucks are probably Georgia Strait out of luck. Vancouver could offer up Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who is young and dynamic, sure, but they’d be adding a bunch on top of him to even get Seattle to pick up the phone.

In the end, Seattle probably aims to trade Wright’s potential as far away as possible, meaning to the East. Friedman speculated about a Wright-for-Alexis Lafrenière trade, and if something like that is on the table, the Canucks will probably not be able to put together a competitive bid.

Wright is, in other words, an excellent trade target for the Canucks, but he might not be a very realistic one, unless Friedman is way off on the Kraken’s trading intentions.