The Calgary Flames have a type of player they should be chasing hard right now: young, right-shot centers.
That’s the reason Shane Wright has started popping up in trade chatter around Calgary in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Seattle Kraken have been working with Wright’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, who said the team has “agreed to move Shane this summer to a team in need of a top young center.”
And the Flames, plainly, fit that description.
Wright is 22, shoots right, and plays center - a combination that is tough to find and even tougher to pry loose. For Calgary, the fit is obvious on paper. The question is whether the price to get him is worth it.
Wright’s path in Seattle didn’t start cleanly. Like Zayne Parekh this year, he was in that awkward spot where he was too good for the OHL, but probably not ready to be thrown into the NHL at 18.
Still, he got valuable reps along the way. He captained Team Canada to a gold medal at the World Juniors, then logged 24 games in the Calder Cup Playoffs with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The development kept moving after that. In 2023-24, Wright posted 47 points in 59 AHL games, a strong showing for such a young player in a league that doesn’t hand out easy nights.
Then came the breakout. In 2024-25, Wright put up 44 points in 79 games for Seattle, doing it in his 20/21-year-old season.
That kind of production at that age is exactly why a team like Calgary would have interest. There just aren’t many centers available who can already produce like that while still carrying the upside of more to come.
And that upside is what makes this worth talking about for the Flames.
Wright wants a bigger role, and Calgary could offer one. He could step into top-line five-on-five minutes and be a major part of the top power-play unit. If he gets that kind of usage, there’s a real chance he grows into a legitimate top-six center.
That matters because the Flames’ center depth heading into next season, as of July 9, looks thin: Morgan Frost, Mikael Backlund, Ryan Strome and one of Tyson Gross or Martin Pospisil. In that group, Wright would immediately look like the top option.
Of course, none of this matters if the trade cost gets out of hand.
Seattle would probably prefer to use a player like Wright as part of a package for a bigger difference-maker, the kind of impact piece the Kraken have been missing since entering the league in 2021. And right now, the Flames don’t appear to have the kind of asset Seattle would be dying to land.
But if the Kraken can’t find that piece elsewhere, Calgary could still have a shot.
Assets the Flames could use in a deal include Morgan Frost, Connor Zary, Joel Farabee, Yegor Sharangovich, Zach Whitecloud, Hunter Brzustewicz and any non-first-round draft pick.
One possible framework would send Shane Wright to Calgary in exchange for Morgan Frost, a 2027 second-round pick from Colorado and a 2027 third-round pick from Minnesota.
That package may not be enough if Seattle wants to maximize the return, and that’s where the Flames would have to make a choice. If they really believe Wright can become more than he’s shown so far, then Craig Conroy may have to pay up.
That’s the heart of it. Wright looks like the kind of player Calgary should be targeting: young, right-shot, productive, and still with room to grow. He’s already shown enough to make you wonder what happens if he gets more ice time, more power-play chances and better linemates.
Could he become a 60-plus point player in the right situation?
That’s the bet worth considering. And if the Flames decide to make it, the price may need to be higher than the proposal on the table.
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The latest round of turnover fits that pattern again, with Calgary continuing to reshape its roster around a younger core while veteran names keep changing addresses. Conroy has already shown he is willing to make hard calls when the timing is right, and the bigger question now is whether the next wave of players can make the leap fast enough to justify the direction he has chosen. [Read more 🡒]