The Habs will take Wright for one simple reason, the same reason why the Habs took Wickenheiser 42 years ago: risk aversion.
NHL GM's are uber-conservative and they make decisions not out of enlightenment but mostly out of fear. Back in 1980 nearly every team in the then 21 team NHL had Wick ranked as the #1 guy. Maybe 3 others had Dave Babych as their top pick. Not a single team had Denis Savard rated as first overall. So yes, with the benefit of hindsight it's possible to say that the Habs blew it but had any other team been picking first, they'd have made the same mistake. Savard ended up going at #3 behind Wick and Babych but had Chicago picked first and the Habs third, Wick would have been the Hawks' big mistake while Savard would have been a Habs' coup.
No GM at the time wanted to be embarrassed down the road by taking a flyer on Savard. Wick was the sure thing, the lead pipe cinch to be a superstar. To go against the grain came with more risk than NHL GM's were willing to take. Nothing has changed in the last four decades. If Wright is the consensus #1 pick and the Habs take Cooley instead and Wright goes on to be a star and Cooley becomes another Wick... The Habs aren't going to risk it.
The scouts and pundits who question Wright's position as the prohibitive favorite at #1 don't have the first overall pick. The Habs do.
