I'm not arguing for acquiring Zegras, mind you. I'd also rather give Parssinen an extended run, and would also find Novak adequate. Just if we had drafted Zegras with a top-10 pick ourselves, made that investment... plus the contract investment... then I'd have been pretty inclined to try to play him at center for us, if that's what he was doing when he logged those 60+ point seasons.
Or I guess, if we did go ahead and trade some significant assets to acquire him, then brought that contract in here, again, that ups the ante on our investment, and I'd try very hard to maximize the return on that investment by considering him ahead of Parssinen and Novak. Just... I hope we don't make that investment atm. His contract isn't going to be bad enough that the Ducks will ever have to firesale him completely... some other tanking team with Cap space will always be willing to pay something meaningful to try him out.