The NHL Draft and Awards have been postponed

To the surprise of nobody, a handful of key NHL events have been postponed until further notice. This includes the NHL Scouting Combine, the NHL Entry Draft, and the NHL Awards Ceremony.

Just like with everything else involved with the leagues COVID-19 pause, we have no idea when these events will end up taking place, or even if they will. If the 2019-20 season gets completely cancelled, the draft will likely have to take place over the phone and the league will have to do without an awards ceremony. Perhaps they could do some kind of TV-only special.

As I said, this happening really is no surprise. The league is on pause right now until at least mid-May as the United States Centre for Disease Control and Protection has issued a restriction on large gatherings. The goal for the NHL, it seems, is to still carry out everything involved with the 2019-20 season, including playoffs, the draft, and awards ceremony, but at a later date.

The playoffs could get pushed back as late as August, which would mean the draft and awards potentially going down as late as September. Of course, with the NHL actively trying to avoid getting in the way of the 2020-21 season in any capacity, this could get tricky.