Still without an official host site for the June 2024 draft and having heard from clubs interested in moving away from the traditional model, the NHL has started gauging whether a “strong majority” of teams would be in favor of overhauling the event by shifting to a remote model.
The league circulated a memo Wednesday asking for feedback on a possible “decentralized” draft, similar to how the NFL and NBA conduct theirs, with team personnel remaining in their home markets while the prospects gather in one centralized draft location.
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Under the proposed new model, the NHL would use a 5,000- to 10,000-seat venue and have one or two representatives from each club on hand. Prospects would be greeted by commissioner Gary Bettman and a team rep on the draft stage for a brief photo opportunity after being selected and could later be flown with their family to the club’s home city after finishing broadcast and media responsibilities.
Discussion about the merits of a potential change to the draft started informally during the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting in New York earlier this month and will now be conducted more broadly. Each team has been asked to submit a ballot by Oct. 24 indicating whether it is in favor of the proposed change.
While any potential changes aren’t likely to be implemented before 2025, Wednesday’s memo did leave room for it to happen by this coming spring since the league is still working to finalize a location for that draft. Teams were recently circulated a critical dates calendar that indicated the event would be held June 28-29, 2024, but no venue was listed.
Las Vegas has long been considered the front-runner to serve as host city, but it’s proven challenging. T-Mobile Arena is booked for a UFC event at the end of June, and the NHL has looked at several other potential sites, according to a league source familiar with those discussions, but it still hasn’t locked one down.
Among the broader issues the NHL has started to face with the event is a limited number of clubs being willing to serve as its host, which restricts scheduling options because of building availability. That’s because while the draft is typically a boon for the local tourism economy given the large number of visitors it brings to a city, it doesn’t typically come with a windfall for the host team.
Shifting to a decentralized draft would result in “significantly” reduced club travel and lodging costs, according to Wednesday’s NHL memo. The other potential benefits it listed were “more significant opportunities surrounding draft day fan events and related activities in each club’s home city; possible additional local revenue opportunities; and an increased number (and type) of venue and city/community options available in which the league could plan and conduct draft day proceedings.”
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Still, there has been some level of initial pushback to the proposal from traditionalists who like the idea of having all of the key NHL personnel in one city, according to a league source. The NHL Draft is a unique event that’s been conducted with a single host location since 1963 — save for the 2020 and 2021 versions, which were held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executives contacted by The Athletic on Wednesday afternoon seemed largely split on the issue due to it carrying a tradeoff of pros and cons.
Positives cited for an in-person draft were the opportunity to meet with prospects, agents and rival team staffers on the ground; the excitement that surrounds an event conducted in a unique manner from other sports leagues; and the fact it generates fan interest in a way the decentralized version likely wouldn’t be able to.
However, multiple executives also mentioned the exorbitant costs as an obvious negative that comes with staging an event that sees dozens of scouts and personnel from all 32 teams flown into the host city. There was also more than one complaint about the workability of the draft floor itself, with three executives saying they preferred the elevated privacy and relative calm found in their own war room on draft day during the pandemic years.
“It’s too loud on the floor,” said one general manager. “You have to text anyway (when working on a trade) to be sure all of the details are precise.”
Among the other challenges mentioned were travel headaches and a tightly packed schedule, with team executives getting less than 48 hours to return to their home city following the draft before the free-agency floodgates open on July 1.
While Wednesday’s memo made clear that the NHL head office has no issues with continuing with the traditional draft format, the league wanted to leave the decision in the hands of teams. “Obviously, a decentralized draft will be less of an ‘event’ than the current draft, but we are willing to adjust the nature and format of the proceedings if that is the will of a majority of clubs,” it read.
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Should there be enough appetite for change, the issue is expected to be included on the agenda for further discussion when NHL GMs gather in Toronto on Nov. 14.
— Pierre LeBrun contributed to this report.
(Top photo of Pekka Rinne, David Poile, Gary Bettman and Roman Josi at the 2023 NHL Draft: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)