Couldn't "Configure" just test for the availability of a compatible SSL library and build/install/test the SSL modules only if the system has one of those libs?

I would think that could be done if someone were prepared to make the effort.
Maybe the perl developers should be asked about this ?
I don't think it's a job I'd like to take on, even if I thought I had the capability.

I now have wget on all 4 of my home systems (including Windows).
With 'urllist' set to 'https://www.cpan.org' (as marto suggested earlier) I'm now set up so that CPAN on any fresh installation of perl will use wget over https.

Cheers,
Rob