SEATTLE Kraken
shane wright: set up for success?
by Derek Smith, july 14, 2026
Shane Wright before a faceoff. Photo Credit: Jennthulu
There’s something missing from much of the online discourse surrounding the Shane Wright trade request that will haunt me unless I get it out on this page.
Contrary to widespread and popular belief, I don’t think the Kraken have only set Shane Wright up for failure. I think there is a somewhat solid case that can be made that the Kraken, in ways unseen to the naked eye, have tried to set Shane Wright up for success.
ICE TIME
The most widespread and popular take on the ol’ Shane Wright development discussion is that Wright has not been afforded enough playing time.
Wright, in his first two full NHL seasons, was granted 14:04 per game in ’24-25 and 13:48 per game in this last season, ’25-26. Wright’s point production for the last two seasons is as follows:
2024-25: 79GP, 14:04 TOI, 19G, 25A, 44P
2025-26: 74GP, 13:48 TOI, 12G, 15A, 27P
The one point I’ll make in this section is that it is hard for me to buy that a reduction of a mere 16 seconds, on average, is the cause of a 17-point, let’s call it 15 points because of the five fewer games, decline for Wright.
DEEPER LOOK: QUALITY OF COMPETITION
What I love about this section is that the data used for it is free, publicly available, and placed onto scatter plots so that primitive hockey fans such as myself can read it.
So, let’s get into that data. Dobber Sports has a “Player Usage Chart” (pictured below) that will show you two key things: (1) the quality of competition any player plays against; and (2) the percentage of the time that player is deployed into the offensive zone.
What you can take a gander at below is first Shane Wright contextually presented among his fellow Kraken centers (and Bobby McMann for some reason) to see how the Kraken use said centers. He faces by far the weakest competition of centers on the Kraken, and is second only to Berkly Catton in how often he’s deployed into the offensive zone (66.6% of the time).
The other image below that one is Shane Wright contextually presented among some top-tier centers in the NHL, you may have heard of a couple of them. Wright’s level of competition basically pushes him off of this chart, that’s how low it is. And, of note, Matty Beniers faces the toughest competition of everyone on that chart, that’s cool.
SO, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Feel free to pull whatever meanings you want from these data points and let us know your thoughts @BTWSEA on your platform of choice. I, however, have my own thoughts.
To me this signals that the Kraken have tried their best, at least this last season, to put Wright in a “sheltered” role. A role in which he is able to play against very weak competition and be in the offensive zone as much as possible. A bona fide recipe for scoring chances.
So, if Wright is put in optimal positions to generate scoring chances but sees a point drop off, what could be causing that? Besides the 16 seconds he lost, of course.
I think the potential explanations are vast, but a couple of them make the most sense to me, or maybe a combination of them.
1. Wright’s Linemates
Shane Wright plays against weak competition, but he does so alongside weak linemates. The Kraken offense is very weak, near worst in the NHL. Wright could see a real pop on a different team, alongside linemates that will lift him up. According to JFresh, Shane Wright plays against 20th percentile competition alongside 29th percentile linemates.
2. Wright Is Still a Work in Progress
Shane Wright is still only 22 years old. He has his whole career ahead of him. Something that makes me think he may still be a work in progress is that, even alongside 29th percentile linemates, if Wright was the game breaker many think he is, he would be putting up much higher numbers against the weak competition he faces. Instead, Wright is labeled on Dobber Sports as an “Average Sheltered Forward.”
FAREWELL
I personally hope we keep Shane Wright. I think he’s just a weaker prospect who needs a bit more time, but there are a lot of good underlying metrics for Wright during his sheltered role. It is also hard to say no to Wright getting some more ice time when Chandler Stephenson has shown no cause for the amount of time he gets.
As always, let us know your thoughts over @BTWSEA, thanks for reading!