One of the terms John Chayka used with respect to our current roster was "latent upside". As in, there is potential on the current roster that either has room to develop or underperformed to their potential. I think that is a fairly accurate assessment with respect to last years team. Almost every player underperformed with respect to their potential, and I expect, if nothing else were to change, we could expect improvement in the overall results.
That "latent upside" also has me wondering what potential targets around the NHL that fill that same mold. We filled a major need on the back end already, but we really could use an upgrade at the 2C position for the foreseeable future. JT is still highly effective, but we need to expect regression is just around the corner.
A player that fits the latent upside demo that I believe could be had would be Shane Wright. This is clearly a player who has underperformed to expectation thus far in his career, but he still has plenty of room to grow. I also think when you look a bit closer at the Seattle roster, and see fellow "blue chip" prospect Matty Beneirs fail to do anything close to what was originally projected of him, you start to see the potential flaw in Seattle as an organization at developing their prospects. The Kraken have had 16 of their 41 picks since becoming a franchise be within the top 2 rounds of the NHL draft, and they essentially have nothing of note to show for it. Is it possible this is a franchise that struggles to develop talent? similar to NYR?
Shane Wright and/Matty Beneirs may not be the players everyone thought the would become, but they aren't the players they presently are IMO.
This will rub a lot of people the wrong way, but I actually think there is just too much smoke on the Matthew Knies front to ignore. I also look back at the blueprint episode (season 11 episode 5) featuring Matthew Knies, and it shows him routinely eating on the road with Benoit, Woll, and McMann. All of which are no longer on our roster. Not suggesting he doesn't have any other buddies on the team, but I imagine with the flurry of rumors, report of a failed trade attempt, and the departure of his buddies, he may be less than completely content.
I am curious if a deal like this could work:
To TOR: Shane Wright, 2026 7th overall pick, 2027 1st round pick (whichever of the 2 they have ends up worse)
To SEA: Matthew Knies, Morgan Reilly
We could then use the 2x 2027 1st round picks as currency to improve our roster in other ways.
I don't typically take much away from the Steve Dangle Podcast, but one thing they noted that absolutely needs to be addressed is the lack of right shooting players in our forward group. Wright is a RH shooter, and an ideal candidate to fill a 2C role. The 7th overall selection allows you to select one of whoever is left between Malhotra, Carels, Reid, Verhoff, and Bjork. Hell even Tynan Lawrence is creating a bit of buzz as well.
To me , Wright represents a similar upside to what Pavel Zacha presented to the bruins when they acquired him. Clearly mishandled asset in NJ, who immediately finds a role in top 6 in BOS. To me, I see that as a very realistic outcome for Wright, with a potentially higher ceiling outcome.
