Shane Wright's contract future is turning into a storyline for the Seattle Kraken, and Saturday night the noise got louder.
Wright's agent, Kurt Overhardt, told TVA Sports there's nothing to discuss on a new deal right now.
"There's nothing to discuss at this time; we'll have to see how things develop over the next few weeks. Until then, Shane is fully committed to the Kraken, and that's his only concern right now."
Nicolas Cloutier passed along those comments, and the timing says plenty about where this situation actually stands.
Wright is playing on an entry-level cap hit of $886,667, one of the smallest numbers on Seattle's roster.
This season he put up 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points across 74 games, a modest step for a player Seattle counted on for more.
On the power play, Wright chipped in 2 goals and 4 assists, hardly the kind of return that forces a team's hand at the table.
Over his last 10 games, he managed just 1 goal, 2 assists and 3 points, a quiet finish to a season that never really took off.
Wright's modest numbers complicate Seattle's next move
The Kraken themselves stumbled to the finish, going 34-37-11 with a minus-37 goal differential and a 27th overall ranking leaguewide.
Seattle went 19-17-5 at home and just 15-20-6 on the road, a split that shows how uneven this group was start to finish.
The club closed the year on a three-game losing streak and went 2-8-0 over its final 10 games under head coach Lane Lambert.
General manager Jason Botterill now has to sort out where Wright fits into a rebuild that clearly needs more than patience.
Handing out term and real dollars off a season like this would be a stretch, and Seattle's front office almost certainly knows it.
Negotiating an extension right now is a bit like signing a lease before the home inspection comes back. Nobody rushes that.
Does a quiet third season make this negotiation easier for Seattle, or does it just pile more questions onto an already murky roster?
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Overhardt made it clear nothing gets sorted anytime soon. For a Kraken franchise still hunting for direction, that answer is going to have to wait.
Should the Kraken commit long-term to Shane Wright after a season like this?
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