New team emerges as the clock ticks on a Shane Wright trade

Forever Blueshirts writer Ryan McInerney made the case this week that Chris Drury should explore acquiring the Seattle Kraken center.

Wright is entering the final season of a three-year entry-level deal carrying an $886,666 cap hit, per PuckPedia. It expires in the summer of 2027, when he turns 23 and becomes a restricted free agent.

Because Wright signed his first contract at 18 and played only eight NHL games in each of his first two seasons, he will not have arbitration rights in 2027.

His qualifying offer sits at $940,500, and he cannot reach unrestricted free agency until 2031.

That matters because Drury already has a crowded 2027. Will Cuylle, Noah Laba and Gabe Perreault are all entering the final years of their deals, and Braden Schneider just signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract after filing for arbitration in July.

Every one of those negotiations carries leverage for the player.

Wright would be the only young forward in that group with no arbitrator available to him.

Jason Botterill has held a high asking price since agent Kurt Overhardt confirmed the trade request to Elliotte Friedman. That price is tied entirely to runway.

Trade Wright now and the new club gets all 84 games to decide what to pay him. Wait until December and the buyer inherits a walk year with half the evaluation window and the same qualifying offer decision waiting at the end.

The Kraken are not selling 27 points. They are selling five more seasons of control over a right-shot center who cannot argue his way to a raise.

Seattle has roughly seven weeks until camp opens.

Every week it waits, the asset it is actually selling gets smaller.

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