Vancouver Canucks Linked To Potential Draft Bust Shane Wright

Not too long ago, Shane Wright was expected to be one of the faces of the NHL alongside Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini. Flash forward to 2026, and he is in constant trade rumors, indicating his time in Seattle should be coming to an end soon.

The Vancouver Canucks are in a similar position to Wright as a team that was expected to be the face of the NHL with their young core of superstar talent, but just a few years later they were last in the NHL.

In an effort to build their team from the ground up, the Canucks have been linked to Shane Wright as a potential long-term center option behind 2026 3rd overall pick Caleb Malhotra.

Canucks reporter Rick Dhaliwal recently confirmed the Canucks' interest in the 2022 4th overall pick.

Zeev Buium or Tom Willander are both quite talented players to be parting with for Wright. Buium was a part of the Quinn Hughes trade, and he is expected to be the Canucks' long-term top power-play defenseman.

On the other hand, Tom Willander is coming off a great rookie year and showed a ton of promise as well. The 2023 9th overall pick still has plenty of development left and projects at least as a middle-pairing defenseman.

Given the high price for Wright and what he has done in his NHL career thus far, it may not be worth parting with a potential top pairing defensman.

However, if GM Ryan Johnson and the Canucks front office believe that Wright is at least a 2nd line center, the price may be worth it. Defensively responsible top-six centermen are pretty pricey as is.

At the end of the day, it is something for the Canucks front office to consider given the direction their rebuild is heading in.

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