I think we might be indifferent about whether his next contract starts sooner. It's not like he's losing an RFA year (the 40 game threshold).
I honestly don't care which way they go with Wright on this.
Burning off a year on his ELC could also mean his next contract potentially being lower.
I'm hoping for the best pick possible too, but I feel like this "mid teams" thing gets exaggerated.
I remember a decade ago when Boston and St. Louis were supposedly teams stuck in the middle. Then they got better anyways, using elite players they drafted in the middle or later.
Minnesota is the quintessential example of a mid team, but they also have one of the top ten talents in the game. I'd say Kaprizov is better actually than any of the 1st OA picks in the last seven drafts. They're not a great team because their depth has gotten worse.
Calgary was that mid team too, then they won the Presidents Trophy and now they're awful. It's not that predictable is it?
The Blues are the absolute exception to the rule during the salary cap era and the Bruins already had lucked into Bergeron and Marchand while drafting Pastrnak in the late first round.
The Blues are not a good example cause, like I've said, they're the exception to the rule and following their model is hoping to also be that one exception every 15 years to win it without drafting very high.
The Bruins were able to draft their two main guys during a time when scouting was nowhere near were it is today and when you still could find guys in the 7th round(or undrafted) that wouldn't be available there this time around.
The Wild and Flames(especially during the last 10 - 15 years) are the definition of being mid.
The Flames had one great regular season(where everything went their way in terms of injuries and production) and then got bounced in the playoffs again. They've made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs once(if I remember correctly) during the last decade.
The Wild didn't just get mid by losing their depth, they've been that for most of their existence.
I know there's no guarantee of success with drafting very high multiple times but that's mostly because you have teams like the Yotes, Sabres or Sens who's ownership doesn't allow them to be successful thanks to the way they handle those franchises.
Though, the Pens, Blackhawks, Kings, Lightning and Avs are the examples of how to have success during the salary cap era and all of them drafted very high muiltiple times and build their teams that way.
Anyways, I agree that drafting 9th or 11th won't be a huge dealbreaker this year.
The most important thing will be decisions made by Francis and the FO on how to handle the current roster and who they keep and/or trade.