Detroit GM does not like idea of early draft
Given the current circumstances, professional sports leagues are trying their best to conduct business as per usual despite games not being played. Last week, National Hockey League Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that the league is still considering holding it’s annual NHL Draft in June like originally scheduled – even though the season has been halted since March 12th.
That idea does not sit well with Detroit Red Wings general manager, Steve Yzerman, however. “Obviously the draft has never taken place prior to the end of a Stanley Cup or the end of a season,” Yzerman said on Wednesday during a Facebook Live with Fox Sports Detroit.
“My thought is: Why would you do that? Why would you need to do that?” Yzerman said. “There’s a lot of things that are affected, obviously. The draft position hasn’t been established; we don’t know who’s in the playoffs, who’s out of the playoffs, in some cases.
“So there’s a lot of questions, and ultimately if it needs to be done prior to, we’ll figure it out. But at this time, my own opinion is, I haven’t heard a good reason why we should do it prior to the end of the season if we do conclude the season over the course of the summer.”
Daly didn’t provide a whole lot of detail last week when it came to why the league was still thinking about conducting the draft in June, but Yzerman brings up some good questions and ones that will need to be addressed prior to any draft taking place.
The NHL could follow the NFL’s model and hold the entire event virtually to follow physical distancing guidelines, but that doesn’t solve the problem of draft order. Also, the league maintains that they would still like to finish the current campaign. If that is the case, why not wait until the conclusion of the season to have the draft like in any other year?
Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings will be keeping a close eye on the situation as they were sitting dead last in the entire NHL when play was suspended. They had just 17 wins and 39 points through 71 games. The Ottawa Senators are second-last and still 23 more points than the Red Wings do. They will be desperately hoping they end up with the number one overall pick – whenever the draft is.
Yzerman returned to the Red Wings’ organization in April last year, after resigning as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 54-year-old had an illustrious career with the franchise, playing 22 seasons with the club and winning three Stanley Cups. He won a fourth Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008 as an executive when he was serving as the team’s vice-president and alternate governor.
The NHL has yet to make a firm decision on anything yet and given the government restrictions still in effect, there are a lot of questions surrounding the next few months. An official announcement regarding the 2020 NHL Draft will likely be made in the coming weeks.
