The Seattle Kraken and Nashville Predators swapped former top draft picks on Saturday, sending center Shane Wright to Nashville for winger Matthew Wood in a one-for-one deal.
Wright, taken fourth overall by Seattle in 2022, has had a rocky run with the Kraken. A big part of that came from the old rules that kept him out of the AHL.
He was too advanced for junior hockey, but not ready to be a full-time NHL player, and that left him stuck without a clean development path. By the time he settled in at the NHL level, some of the shine had already come off.
Wood’s path has been different. Nashville picked him 15th overall in 2023, and he put together a solid rookie season last year with 19 goals and 30 points. The appeal with Wood is obvious: he’s listed at 6-foot-4 and 202 pounds, the kind of big-bodied power forward teams love to chase.
It’s tough to say which side got the better player here. Wright plays the more valuable position, but he’s now four years removed from being drafted and appears to have hit a ceiling.
Wood is a year younger, yet his upside looks more like that of a middle-six winger, and players in that mold can usually be found around the league. Both sides may simply be hoping a change of scenery helps.
For St. Louis, the move is a reminder that passing on this kind of deal made sense.
The Blues likely had the pieces to get involved if they wanted to. Jake Neighbours would have been a comparable piece, even if he’s older than Wood, and Jimmy Snuggerud could have been in play if Seattle had asked for more, perhaps with Berkly Catton or prospect Jake O'Brien involved.
Dalibor Dvorsky also fits into the discussion, but his current level of play is close enough to Wright’s that it wouldn’t have made much sense from Seattle’s side.
In the end, the price would have been too steep. Neighbours matters to the Blues’ new leadership group, and Snuggerud has 30-goal potential.
Those are the kinds of players you don’t move for someone who still needs a rebuild of sorts. St.
Louis also looks fairly settled down the middle. Robert Thomas anchors the top line, the Mason McTavish experiment appears to be working even if the scoring has dipped, and Dvorsky, flaws and all, projects as a reliable third-line center for years.
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