The NHL made a major announcement today regarding the future of the league and its draft.
NHL Makes Major Changes To The Draft
The NHL made a massive announcement indicating major changes to the structure of their draft. After a vote, the teams have decided to decentralize the NHL Draft going forward.
NEWS: The NHL has issued a memo to teams saying that there was majority support for a shift to a decentralized draft. Still not clear if it will happen in 2024 and there are a lot of logistics to work out.
The NHL previously had a decentralized draft in 2020 due to the global pandemic. Now it will be the new normal for the NHL going forward.
The New Format
According to sources the NHL Draft format will begin to look more similar to other North American sports leagues such as the NFL and NBA. This likely means that there will still be a host city but no team personnel will be in attendance.
On top of this, the number of players invited to the draft will likely decrease significantly with a decentralized draft. It will be interesting to hear the NHL's plan to implement this type of structure.