Major News From the Seattle Kraken On Shane Wright's Future

The Seattle Kraken have called up 2022 4th Overall Pick Shane Wright from the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds, signaling the highly-touted forward will be making his NHL season debut. Wright was recalled by Seattle, along with Ryan Winterton, after Jordan Eberle suffered a skate cut to the leg in practice.

Wright, 19, Seattle's 1st Rounder in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, has 4 Goals and 6 Points in 7 Games for the Kraken's AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley, tied for 1st in Goals. Winterton, 20, has 5 Points in 7 Games for Coachella Valley.

Wright, a former top prospect as a youth, was granted OHL Exceptional Status, although he later fell to Seattle at 4th in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, with many prospect evaluators considering him as potentially the top player in his class.

He slid down the board after the Montreal Canadiens selected Slovakian Juraj Slafkovsky 1st Overall, the Devils passing due to an abundance at Centre to take fellow Slovak Simon Nemec 2nd. The Arizona Coyotes took Logan Cooley 3rd, leaving Wright, once touted as a potential "generational prospect" in Seattle's lap with the fourth pick.

A strong group down the middle, including future Calder Winner Matty Beniers, made it difficult to justify keeping Wright in the lineup seeing as likely he'd be in the bottom-six.

That led to Wright being a healthy scratch, but not wanting to send him back down to the OHL, where he'd proven himself enough in his draft year with 32 Goals and 94 Points in 63 Games, the Kraken were able to send Wright to the AHL on a conditioning stint, before his return to the OHL after captaining Canada to a Gold Medal at the World Juniors.

Of course, Wright seems to have done everything possible to gain an NHL shot, but Seattle faces the issue of a strong Center group, Alex Wennberg, currently slotted as Seattle's 2C, has struggled with just 3 Points in 13 Games. Wright could make a push to take Wennberg's spot in the top-six, setting up Wright and Beniers as two potential all-star talents down the middle.