{"id":852373,"date":"2026-09-18T18:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/852373\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T18:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:06:11","slug":"morning-notes-wright-poitras-xhekaj-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/852373\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Notes: Wright, Poitras, Xhekaj \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

During yesterday\u2019s media scrum, Kraken forward Shane Wright<\/a> voiced his commitment to the team<\/a> heading into training camp.<\/p>\n

This adds to what his agent, Kurt Overhardt of KO Sports, told Josh Frojelin of Emerald City Spectrum<\/a>\u00a0that Wright is \u201cfully committed to the Kraken,\u201d despite his desire to move on from Seattle that began when the team agreed to potentially moving him to fill another franchise\u2019s need for a young center.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old, who enters the final year of his entry-level contract that pays him $886K annually, tallied a career high of 44 points in 79 games in his first full NHL season. Shooting at 20.9%, this production wasn\u2019t far behind 2022 No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky<\/a> (51 points in 2024-25). Wright followed up with scoring 27 points in 2025-26, a drop off that was a head scratcher for the player who was expected as a consensus No. 1 overall pick before that draft night in 2022. He has yet to receive above 12 minutes of even-strength ice time, but perhaps the Kraken will benefit from giving him a heightened role, seeing how well he has demonstrated his offensive output before.<\/p>\n

Additional Morning Notes:<\/p>\n

I really want to work hard here in camp and earn an opportunity to play here and kind of prove that I\u2019m confident in myself that I\u2019m an everyday NHL player but just prove to everybody that I can be in the lineup every night and be relied on.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old has spent more of his professional career in the AHL than he has in the NHL, after a full season with Boston in 2023-24, showing sparks of promise for the team\u2019s future. Injuries forced a relegation to the minors to regain his game. He\u2019s thrived in the AHL, scoring 85 points across 109 games. With the big club, he\u2019s managed 27 points in 69 NHL games. Health for the young-hard nosed forward will be key for him to impress at camp and further.<\/p>\n

Arber Xhekaj<\/a> didn\u2019t want to hold out on his one-year contract signing with the Canadiens before training camp, and further to that, he\u2019d like to earn an extension with the club as he sees this year as an opportunity to prove himself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Obviously i\u2019d like to stay for a longer term, but this gives me a chance to kind of work for the next deal and I\u2019d love to sign long-term here or longer. I think I can make that happen.<\/p>\n

That being said, Xhekaj brings a playstyle that Montreal should covet and needs in their buildup to a Stanley Cup. He\u2019s a physical player and excels consistently in his ability to deliver hard hits. Despite this profiling, the Canadiens did not use his services to the full extent, averaging just 11:25 of ice time per game. That made him the least-used defenseman last season in Montreal, and he averaged just 8:05 per game during the team\u2019s playoff run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During yesterday\u2019s media scrum, Kraken forward Shane Wright voiced his commitment to the team heading into training camp.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[391,274318,1785,206728,1787,385,4831,213714,99],"class_list":["post-852373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ahl","tag-arber-xhekaj","tag-boston-bruins","tag-matthew-poitras","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-seattle-kraken","tag-shane-wright","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}