The Vancouver Canucks have approached the Seattle Kraken about Shane Wright, per Rick Dhaliwal. The ask from Seattle is very high.
Specifically, the Kraken want either Zeev Buium or Tom Willander in return.
That's a significant price for a 22-year-old center who posted 12 goals and 27 points in 74 games for a Seattle team that finished 34-37-11, twenty-second overall with just 79 points.
Wright carries a $886,667 cap hit and went plus-6 this season. The offensive numbers aren't yet matching the draft pedigree. He was the fourth overall pick in 2022 and hasn't fully broken through yet.
But Vancouver GM Ryan Johnson and co-presidents Henrik and Daniel Sedin clearly see something worth pursuing. Wright is 22, left-handed, and fits the rebuild timeline they're building toward.
The problem is the price. Buium posted 26 points in 76 games this season at just 20 years old.
Willander added 21 points in 70 games at 21. Both are foundational pieces in the Canucks' rebuild, the kind of young defensemen that take years to develop properly.
Giving up either one for a forward who hasn't yet justified his draft position is a gamble that cuts against everything a rebuild is supposed to protect.
Seattle's high ask reflects Wright's upside, not his current production
Under coach Lane Lambert, Seattle is rebuilding around younger pieces too.
They're not moving Wright for cap relief. They're moving him only if the return sets their own rebuild back on track.
Buium at $966,500 or Willander at $950,000 represent exactly the kind of cost-controlled, high-ceiling defenders that rebuilding teams covet.
Vancouver scored only 216 goals last season, allowed 316, and finished dead last in the entire league.
They need offensive help badly. Wright theoretically addresses that.
Whether Johnson pulls the trigger on this one or looks for a cheaper path to the same answer is the question hanging over Rogers Arena this week.
Should the Canucks trade Zeev Buium or Tom Willander to acquire Shane Wright?
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