Shane Wright’s name is out there if the Seattle Kraken could land a scorer
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman said the Seattle Kraken are looking for a scoring winger, and they’ve put Shane Wright’s name out there to possibly land one. Despite things not working out as well as both sides had hoped, they still value him as a high first-round pick. The same can be said for Alexis Lafreniere. What about a swap?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Matt Marchese: “One more before we let you go here. Have you heard Shane Wright’s name out there as a possible trade chip for Seattle?”
Friedman: “Yeah, that’s accurate. Yes. Like that, that report was correct. That’s accurate. I, I almost didn’t believe it when I first heard it, but because it was just so surprising. But that’s not wrong. He’s out there.
You know, we talked on the pod today with, like a Wright for (Alexis) Lafreniere deal make any sense? Does that make any sense? Seattle has never had like a scorer, like a young scorer. And I think they feel, if they, Wright’s a young center. Centers are valuable. I think if they could get a scorer.
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Like, to be honest, I was wondering, the first thing that jumped into my head was, would they try to do it with the Rangers for (Artemi) Panarin? But I’m not convinced Panarin would do that.
So I just, I kind of wanted to switch, like they’re looking for a scorer. And you know, Wright has had his battles there in Seattle to find his, to carve out his spot. Lafreniere is having some battles to carve out his role in the Rangers. I don’t know how the two teams feel about that, but just pop in my head like that’s one that could, that could make sense.
Marchese: “I mean, Shane Wright’s not the only guy that’s had trouble finding his scoring touch in Seattle. That seems to be an ongoing problem period. But he does feel like a prime guy, you know, different locale might change the trajectory a little bit here. What do you think the perceived value is for him? Like, he’s still obviously a very young player.”
Friedman: “It would be high like, you know, that’s the one thing. Like teams say, like, this is like, teams say, ‘This is a guy who was a high pick.’ Like, I know there’s some Rangers fans who are really down on Lefreniere, and they say, ‘The Rangers should deal him.’ Rangers are going to say, ‘Like, this guy is a number one overall pick. We’re not just giving him away. We’d rather keep him and try to fix it than give him away.’
And I think the same thing is for Wright? Like, obviously, he’s struggling to find a role there. I looked it up yesterday, he’s 10th in Seattle forwards in ice time. He averaged, he played nine minutes the other night. Like obviously, they’re struggling to find a way, but he’s still the fourth overall pick just a few years ago.
So the price is going to be high, very high. And they’re going to say we want a comparable young player or something that’s a valuable package. So that’s what, that’s why that whole like that Wright for Lafreniere thing, whether it’s true or not, or feasible or not. It’s, it’s interesting to me, because you’ve got two young guys, are struggling in their place. They’re both high picks.
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Like, it’ll tell you a story, and the GM wouldn’t tell me the name. He said that there’s, there’s a former first-round draft pick that was, like a first-round draft pick, like, years ago. Okay, who’s available right now? He just didn’t work out in his current situation. And it teams like, ‘Hey, we’re trading this guy. He was a first-round pick. And this manager was telling me, that guy was a first-round pick, like five years ago.
And but like, that’s the way people look at it. And Wight is more recent than that, and LaFreniere is more recent than that. And they were, as a one pick and a four pick. Like those, like these teams, even if those players are struggling, they are not releasing, relinquishing their grips on those guys easily.”
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