Truthfully, I understand other fans wanting them to do a full rebuild and if that is the direction that the organization chose like the Rangers and the Senators, then I would be on board and probably also be bummed out if they won a bunch of games at the end of the season ruining their chances at a very high pick (you're right that even 6th isn't high enough if drafting an all-star is the goal of the season). That being said, it's not what the team was doing and I don't think it's worth the energy being spent being angry with the team for trying to win games and refine their game under their still new coach.
I was very critical of Geoff Ward and excited when Sutter was hired because the second rate coaching this team has had since Sutter was very frustrating to me. I remember when he took over the team in 2002-03 and started to change things and watched as they turned into a contender (and unfortunately lost a season in the midst of that to a lockout). So, since they took the step that I was hoping for, I'm going to wait and see how it turns out.
I support making trades and am hoping for an Eichel deal, myself. I also think they should have put a couple more young guys in last night. But I want to see them control games, generate more offense, and get used to winning, even if it makes finding a good player in the first round a bit tougher.
Also, I found this paper on draft pick value:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...TkFGHYWjHUdJZu
Looks like you were right that there is a fairly big value gap. This guy has the suggested cost to move from 12th to 6th as 12th+44th. Not insignificant.