I know you're an advanced stats guy. Do the stats actually point to Wright being ineffective defensively? I've thought he's looked good in that regard.
The advance stats aren't very pretty for Wright when you look at surface level. I'll compare Burmi and Wright for you guys.
Wrights zone starts are about 50/50 and he faces slightly sheltered competition. Burmistrov is pushed into the ozone a bit and he faces middle of the road competition.
For RelCorsi Burmistrov has the best and Wright has the worst.
The only linemate to have a positive Corsi when lined with Wright is Peluso. Almost everyone has a positive Corsi with Burmistrov (I think there's only like 1 or 2).
That being said you can partially see why when you dig in deeper or just using what you see.
Wright is good at keeping the play from being dangerous due to his defensive acumen, much like Burmistrov, which you can see this by both having a pretty solid (and nearly identical in the 24s) SA/60.
But, he can't push the play forward well, unlike Burmistrov, and has never been able to create much in the offensive zone, which you can see by Burmistrov having a good SF/60 (26) but not so much for Wright (20).