What the Nashville Predators Get in Shane Wright

The past two seasons is where a lot of the discourse comes from with him. He took a major step back in 2025-26, with 27 points in 74 games, and this season, he has just four points in 14 games. People were expecting Wright to break out at this point in his career, and it just didn’t happen with the Kraken. He’s shown flashes at times, like a stretch where he had 12 points in 10 games, but he hasn’t been able to put it together.

What He Can Do For Nashville

Wright was in a desperate need of a change of scenery. There were plenty of teams with mock trades on the other side, like the Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks, but not a ton of outlets were projecting Nashville to be interested.

Still, it’s a solid fit for Nashville. They’ve been looking for a second-line center to fill into their top six, with Mavrik Bourque not reaching that point yet. Wright definitely has that ability. Even if I don’t think he’ll reach the potential he earned coming out of the draft, I still think he could be a 40-50 point solid two-way center. He definitely has an upgrade on linemates, potentially playing alongside Stamkos and Forsberg. The change of scenery will do well for him.

How Wright Feels About It

Wright had his first skate-through with Nashville on Monday, Nov. 2. He will wear no. 15, which is the opposite of his No. 51. Vitali Pinchuk already wears that number, and Pinchuk and Wright were teammates on the Kingston Frontenacs in 2019-20.

“I was surprised, but I was excited as well,” said Wright, when discussing about his first reaction to the trade, “I feel like I’m going to be really happy here.” He found out about the trade at 4 p.m. CT and hopped on the first direct flight to Nashville.

He believes he’ll fit right into Nashville. “I think overall my process has been really solid,” said Wright, “Obviously, maybe I don’t have the points that I did want, but I think overall, the way I have played and the process I have learned things overall, I’ve been really happy with. I want to play fast, want to move my feet. I want to pressure their players, make it hard on them, turn pucks over and transition quickly. Hopefully, I want to bring a lot of offense, and want to bring a ton of speed and energy to their game.”

How MacFarland/Brunette Feel About It

MacFarland highlighted his abilities and his position when talking about why they traded for him. “He’s been a good defensive player early on in his NHL career. We think he’s a natural center. His pace of play has been pretty good. If you go back to his early year pros in the American Hockey League, he was a really highly-rated player, not just based on his draft pedigree because of his offensive output. We hope there’s a little bit of a bump that we can find and get out of him, but we know he’s a good NHL player,” said MacFarland.

He had an interesting message to Wright after the trade: “You don’t need the weight of the world on you. You’re not the fourth overall pick anymore. That was years ago. What you are is a good hockey player, and you still have growth in your game. We want you to come in here and be a part of what we’re trying to build,” said MacFarland.

Brunette is excited to coach Wright and develop him. “Yeah, it’s exciting,” Brunette said. “I think as a coach, you always believe that you can bring the best out of a player and help develop him into the best version of himself. So I think we’re always excited to put work in and watch the growth of a young player. So, he’s no different than all our younger players, but we are excited to work with him. Somebody that – as you guys watch practice today – he skates like he can skate. He brings that pace. So it was exciting to see.”

MacFarland’s Wheeling and Dealing

With the move for Wright, MacFarland continues to put his stamp on the Nashville Predators. Wright becomes the 11th player acquired in a trade in the MacFarland era, including the third player acquired in general this season (Jayden Struble, Daemon Hunt). That’s a lot of overhaul for the Predators.

There could be a lot more on the way. There have been rumors of guys like Ryan O’Reilly, Steven Stamkos, Nick Perbix, Brady Skjei, and even Roman Josi floated around. However, there’s ultimate trust that MacFarland will sculpt a Predators team that will eventually be a championship contender.