A well known Edmonton Oilers blogger, Lowetide, was the one to pose the idea of chasing a Shane Wright trade, but as someone who has watched this development more closely than most in this market, I feel obligated to publish an opinion on the player. There are risks, and potential rewards, to a trade for Wright, but it's more intriguing than most other rumor out there at the moment.
The Seattle Kraken thought they'd lucked into a future National Hockey League star when Wright fell past the first three picks of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, allowing them to select him at 4th overall. Wright had followed a rare career arc to that point, granted exceptional status at 15 years of age for the Ontario Hockey League's draft. He was only the sixth player to earn that exception, and seemed on track to make waves in higher leagues too.
NHL hockey is fast hockey
Four years ago, I watched Wright in the NHL pre-season and wrote that he didn't look NHL ready. He had the same jumpiness and associated poor decision making that Oiler fans saw in Nail Yakupov. There's less time and space in the best league in the world, and Wright couldn't process the game at that speed (yet). Not every 18 year old player can.
Two years ago, Wright managed 19 goals and 44 points, and the Kraken's patient development approach seemed have paid dividends. But player development isn't always linear, and Wright's production declined significantly in 2025-26. If he'd scored twenty goals or more, the conversations around a trade wouldn't be happening, but this kneejerk reaction to negative regression could work in Edmonton's favour.
Wright isn't going to be Macklin Celebrini. But his career PDO of 103.9 shows that, generally speaking, the right things are happening when he's on the ice. That may not mean massive point totals, but it does mean he's having a positive impact during his playing time. And in Edmonton, behind a very strong Oilers Top 6, Wright wouldn't need to score in bunches. He had an elite shooting percentage in 2024-25, around 20%, and the significant drop last year (12%) could be due to less talented linemates giving him the puck in worse positions, or a coaching scheme that muted his offense.
It can be hard to develop as a young player in an environment where losing happens more than winning, and even if the Kraken are more competent than the Vancouver Canucks, they've been an "also ran" for most of their existence as a franchise. Add in a change in the GM chair, and Wright might be available for a steep discount.
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