Close review of the 2022 NHL Draft reveals that the frayed relationship between the Seattle Kraken and Shane Wright isn’t at all unique.
Wright was considered a steal when he fell to 4th overall four years ago. What appeared to be Seattle’s good fortune at the time hasn’t panned out that way for either the player or team. Months of rumored tension spilled into the public earlier this month, when Wright’s representatives revealed they’d asked for a trade, and the Kraken agreed if compensation was acceptable.
The Kraken are hardly alone. Four of the top nine picks from that 2022 draft have already been traded. One player has been traded twice! Few of those nine have experienced success at the NHL level. Those who have, haven’t avoided other types of hardships.
Pick 1: Juraj Slafkovsky, LW To Montreal
Slafkovsky doesn’t belong on this list, because he and the Canadiens have made beautiful music together. The wisdom of Montreal passing on Wright in favor of the Slovakian winger has been borne out. He scored 30 goals last year as the Habs reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
Pick 2: Šimon Nemec, D To New Jersey
The Devils decided they’d rather unload Nemec than pay him what he’d be asking as an RFA. Jersey traded him to Calgary on June 23. “His underlying numbers were frequently bottom-of-the-barrel,” says Pucks and Pitchforks, “with his legitimately strong offensive instincts consistently being outweighed by his putrid defensive play, body language, and effort.”
Pick 3: Logan Cooley, C To Arizona (Now Utah)
The Mammoth aren’t unhappy with Cooley, who shined this spring in his playoff debut. But goalposts hate him. Not by deflecting his shots – they’re out to hurt him.
In mid-December against Vancouver, he spun out and smacked his knee into the right post. That cost him two months on LTIR, In March, he powered between Pittsburgh defenders, then crashed hard into the left post.
Pick 4: Shane Wright, C To Seattle
Wright slipped from 19 goals in his first full season to 12 last year. Speaking recently about the 22-year-old center, Kraken GM Jason Botterill said, “You look at the stats, it might have dropped off a little bit. But I think his two-way play actually improved a lot.” Is that for the ears of potential trade partners?
Pick 5: Cutter Gauthier, LW To Philadelphia
The rest of the league refers to Gauthier as “the 41-goal scorer for the Anaheim Ducks.” The words the Flyers use to describe him can’t be reprinted here. Gauthier declined an invite to development camp, refused to talk to team executives, and by Jan., 2024 forced a trade. Why? “We don’t know to this day,” said Flyers CEO Dan Hilferty.
Pick 6: David Jiříček, D To Columbus
The Czech defenseman is already on his 3rd NHL team. In Nov., 2024, the Blue Jackets sent Jiříček to Minnesota. At the trade deadline last season, the Wild traded him to the Flyers.
“The issues that led Jiříček to fall out of favor in Columbus,” wrote Hockey Wilderness, “his skating and decision-making, cropped up in Minnesota, making that a failure of scouting, development, or both.” Et tu, Kraken?
Pick 7: Kevin Korchinski, D To Chicago
Consider Korchinski the “reverse Shane Wright.” The defenseman from Saskatoon played 76 games for the Blackhawks as a 19-year-old rookie. He’s appeared in just 29 games combined for Chicago in the two seasons since.
“Playing in the NHL too early made Korchinski lose his confidence,” suggests Blackhawks Up. “He no longer has that swagger or displays the smooth skating that made him go seventh overall.”
Pick 8: Marco Kasper, C To Detroit
After Kasper scored 19 goals two years ago (sound familiar?), the Austrian pivot last season went 37 games between his third and fourth goals – and number four was an empty-netter.
“It’s difficult,” said Wings coach Todd McLellan, “when you’ve entered the league and a lot of good things have happened for you, and then you come back and all that momentum goes away.” Sound familiar?
Pick 9: Matthew Savoie, C To Buffalo
Savoie marks the fourth player from the top nine no longer with the club that selected him. He played just one game for the Sabres before they dealt him to Edmonton in 2024.
Hey, he finished strong late last season, nine of his 18 goals in the last 24 games. What’s that? That was after he was moved up to Connor McDavid’s line? Oh.
For the full season, wrote Oilers Nation, “According to HockeyViz, Savoie drove play at the rate of a low-end fourth-liner.” Double Oh.
