The NHL appears to be delaying its entry draft
By Zach Laing
3 years agoThe National Hockey League appears to be delaying the hosting of its entry draft.
Having previously been looking for a June 5th or 6th draft date, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in 31 thoughts Thursday that the league was to give teams a 30-day notice.
That day has since come and gone, meaning the league won’t be holding an early June draft as of this point.
The league could go back to its original date of June 26–27, but online. However, there is a growing sense that the league office is backing away from this fight. On the Board of Governors call three days after that memo, it’s believed that approximately half the teams indicated they were completely against doing it before the end of the playoffs. Even more of an issue was there weren’t many teams willing to fight for doing it early. One of the concerns with having it in the fall is suddenly the sports calendar is jammed with NFL, tennis majors, golf majors, big horse races, MLB, etc. But that argument is not swaying anyone. –Friedman’s 31 thoughts
I think its important that the league hosts a later draft. One of the biggest parts of the draft is all of the trade work that teams put in on the draft floor. Some of the biggest trades in recent years have either happened on the draft floor, or conversations have happened that later flourished into deals happened there.
On Twitter: @zjlaing
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