The Penguins are at least looking into Shane Wright, and that alone says plenty about where Pittsburgh sees its next move at center.
Wright, the former fourth-overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft, has not had the kind of start many expected with the Seattle Kraken. His agent, Kurt Overhardt, told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that the team has agreed to try to move him to a club that needs a young center. Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports that Pittsburgh is among the teams in the mix.
The appeal is obvious. Wright is 22 and is heading into the final year of his entry-level contract, which carries an annual salary of $886K.
He put up a career-high 44 points in 79 games during his first full NHL season, and that came with a 20.9% shooting percentage. That production wasn’t far off 2022 No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, who had 51 points in 2024-25.
Then came a step back: Wright scored 27 points in 2025-26, a drop that stood out for a player once viewed as the consensus No. 1 pick heading into draft night in 2022.
For Pittsburgh, the fit is easy to understand. The Penguins need a young center, and beyond Benjamin Kindel, who proved himself in his age-18 season, the organization is thin there from an age perspective.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are still producing, but they won’t be around forever. Thomas Novak can give them a steady 40-point season, but the upside question remains.
Wright offers the kind of swing that could make sense if the Penguins want to take a shot on a player who may need a new setting.
Even if Wright never becomes the No. 1 center he was projected to be, a former top-five pick is still the kind of player who can carve out a long NHL career in a middle-six role. And with centers being such a hard commodity to find, Pittsburgh could view him as the sort of bet worth making if the change of scenery unlocks something more.
There’s also familiarity on the Penguins’ side. Yohe notes that former Kraken GM Ron Francis is back in Pittsburgh, and the team also has people in the front office who have worked with Kingston, Wright’s OHL club. Wright was dominant there in 2021-22, piling up 94 points in 63 games to finish eighth in the league and earn CHL top draft prospect honors.
The sticking point is the price. Seattle is expected to ask for a significant return, and Pittsburgh does have draft capital to work with.
Over the next two drafts, the Penguins hold seven picks inside the top 64, including two of their own first-rounders, with the rest in the second round. The question is whether they’d be willing to part with young players such as Harrison Brunicke, Bill Zonnon, and/or Will Horcoff.
Seattle’s ask remains unclear, and that uncertainty could extend beyond skaters. Could the Kraken even ask for Sergei Murashov as a future option behind Joey Daccord in net?
If Pittsburgh really wants to bring Wright into black and gold, it may have to give up some young talent it values highly. The Penguins have the resources to make a deal happen. Now it comes down to whether they believe Wright is worth the cost as they try to stay competitive now while also building for the years after Crosby.
In Other News...
Flyers Rumor Reignites Familiar Question About Their Next Real Upgrade
Rumors around the Flyers have a way of circling back to the same basic idea for Seattle: if the Kraken ever decided to listen on a real difference-maker, Vince Dunn would be one of the first names to surface. The broader market has been busy with its own moving parts, from Jason Robertson settling in on a one-year deal in Dallas to Ottawa keeping its focus on adding a scoring winger and a right-handed defenseman, but for Seattle the conversation still keeps landing on whether its blue line has the kind of upgrade other teams would covet.
For now, though, the Kraken are operating like a team trying to compete rather than a club ready to strip things down. That matters, because it keeps Dunn in a very different category than the kind of player who gets shopped just to see what is out there, even as Seattle continues to sort through its roster decisions and weigh where the next changes might come. The Flyers interest is a reminder of how often these questions resurface around the same core names, but it does not mean the answer is close to changing. [Read more 🡒]
Kraken Blue Line Could Be Headed For A Franchise Defining Shift
The Krakens blue line is heading toward a real turning point over the next couple of seasons, with the front office facing a roster puzzle that goes well beyond the usual depth-chart shuffling. Brandon Montour, Adam Larsson and Ryan Lindgren would still be in the picture barring a trade, but the rest of the group is much less settled, and names like Cale Fleury and Josh Mahura look more like placeholders while Seattle sorts out what the defense is supposed to become.
Ryker Evans adds another layer to the uncertainty, since he is due for a major bump after making just two million dollars over the last two seasons, and the organization also has young talent waiting in the wings. Chase Reid, Seattles 7th-overall pick, and Blake Fiddler, a 2025 second-rounder, could eventually join the mix, giving the Kraken several different paths to a revamped back end. The bigger question is whether that future gets shaped by internal growth, a major contract decision, or the kind of draft luck that can change a franchises timeline in an instant. [Read more 🡒]
Kraken Fans Can Feel What This Offseason Still Failed To Fix
Seattles offseason has brought a few familiar kinds of transactions, the sort that suggest activity without quite changing the shape of the roster. Bobby McMann is back, Mackie Samoskevich arrived in a trade and got extended, and the departures of Jaden Schwartz and Jamie Oleksiak only sharpen the sense that the Kraken have been shuffling pieces more than upgrading the lineup.
The bigger issue is what still feels unresolved beneath the surface. Seattle remains older than an ideal team on the rise, and while there is a promising wave of young talent coming behind Matty Beniers, the near-term outlook still points more toward fringe playoff territory than a true leap forward. Until the front office finds a way to address the missing impact up front, the offseason will look less like a reset and more like another missed chance to change the ceiling. [Read more 🡒]