Coming off their best start in franchise history, the Kraken looked to bolster their offensive ranks on Sunday by acquiring 6-foot-4, 202-pound power forward Matthew Wood from the Nashville Predators in exchange for Shane Wright.
In a trade of former first-round picks, the Kraken obtained center/right winger Wood, 21, the No. 15 overall selection in 2023, who had a 17-goal, 30-point rookie campaign last season and has seen second line and power play action thus far for the Predators. The Lethbridge, Alberta native, who grew up in Nanaimo, British Columbia, has one goal and two assists in 14 games this season.
“There’s still room to add more strength to his body and frame,” Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said. “But I think he uses his reach very well to protect pucks. And more importantly, to shoot.
“And we think his hockey sense and his shooting are two of the best attributes he can bring to our team.”
Wood had primarily played as a second- and third-line center with the Preds this season, scoring once and adding two assists, but Botterill said he would likely be used initially at right wing given the makeup of the Kraken’s forward group.
“I think we’ll definitely start him on the wing and go from there,” Botterill said. “But yeah, if you look at last year and then a few times this year, he was able to play both. And again, having that versatility, that flexibility, I think it’s good for our group moving forward.”
Wood was also part of Nashville’s second power play unit.
Acquiring Wood helps a Kraken team that has been looking to expand up front, having already signed 6-foot-2, 217-pound winger Bobby McMann long-term last summer following a trade from Toronto last March. They’ve also been less than two seasons since acquiring 6-foot-2, 215-pound winger Kaapo Kakko from the New York Rangers and recently called up 6-foot-4, 212-pound winger Jani Nyman from the AHL Coachella Valley.
Acquiring Wood also helps a Kraken team looking for more firepower after winger Jared McCann was lost late last month for 10 weeks with a lower-body injury.
The rookie scored six of his 17 goals last March alone, then another in early April as the Predators fought for a late playoff spot that they ultimately failed to achieve.
“I think coming in as a 20-year-old rookie in the National Hockey League and scoring 17 goals and playing two positions, center and wing, really impressed us,” Botterill said. “I think you saw it over the course of last season when in March and April he played in some crucial games and played a lot of minutes there and really helped Nashville try to make the playoffs.
“So he got a lot of experience in his first year and now he joins our team and I think he kind of fits into that age bracket that we’re trying to add. And I think he can complement a lot of our younger players and players on our team right now.”
Wright, 21, the Kraken’s No. 4 pick in 2022, had moved from center to right wing in preseason and has three goals and an assist in the first 14 games this season. After scoring 19 goals in his first full NHL season in 2024-25, Wright dropped to 12 goals last season while his point production dropped from 44 to 27.
The Kraken managed to somewhat surprisingly draft Wright, long a consensus No. 1 pick, when the 2022 Montreal Canadiens opted to select winger Juraj Slafkovsky instead. New Jersey wanted a defenseman with the No. 2 pick while Arizona opted for center Logan Cooley, dropping Wright to the Kraken.
Wright was notoriously ineligible to play in the AHL regular season at age 18 due to minimum age rules – he has since been waived a first-team NHL round – and ended up splitting his time that season between the Kraken, Canada’s World Junior Team, major junior hockey and a special conditioning stint in the AHL and Calder Cup playoffs.
He earned a special exemption to play in the AHL at age 19 and also spent eight games with the Kraken in 2023-24 before his first full NHL campaign in 2024-25.
As for Wood, he played two seasons at the University of Connecticut, getting drafted between those, and then another for the University of Minnesota, totaling 44 goals and 57 assists during those NCAA campaigns. He then joins the Predators for six games in the spring of 2025.
During his 2025–26 rookie season, he didn’t wait long to make a splash, scoring his first NHL goal on October 30 against Dan Vladar of the Philadelphia Flyers. Just 11 days later, against the New York Rangers, he became the first Nashville rookie to score a hat trick since Blake Geoffrion in 2011.
Botterill said Wood, who becomes a restricted free agent after this season, fits perfectly into the group of talented young players in their early to mid-20s that the Kraken have worked to assemble. This group includes Matty Beniers, Kakko, Mackie Samoskevich, Berkly Catton, Ryan Winterton, Ryker Evans and others.
“It’s similar to Samoskevich,” Botterill said of a winger acquired via a trade from Florida last summer and who ranks second in Kraken player goals with six. “You know, Samoskevich has shown scoring ability and has a scoring history. We view Matthew in the same style.
“He’s a different style of player, but he has the same track record in terms of goals scored, whether it’s at the junior level or the college level, and even in the National Hockey League last year. So, you know, finding those players that have that talent around the net, that ability to finish off chances, that’s something that we continue to look to add to our group.”
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