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ESPN said Saturday that it obtained a memo sent
by deputy commissioner Bill Daly to teams that laid out the
benefits of holding the draft in early June. It currently is
scheduled for June 26-27 in Montreal.
The NHL suspended play on March 12 amid the coronavirus
pandemic. League officials are hoping to restart, and finish,
the season this summer. Under that scenario, the start of the
2020-21 season could be delayed by several weeks, but the
calendar wouldn't be friendly for a draft between the seasons,
Daly said.
"We don't want to have a situation where we're shoehorning a
draft lottery or a draft into a very short window of time, which
we may be faced with," he said in a radio interview that aired
Friday.
ESPN said the Daly memo included a proposal that would determine
the 15 teams that would be in the draft lottery, despite teams
not playing the same number of games before the season was
halted.
NHL governors are scheduled to take part in a conference call on
Monday. A decision about the draft schedule could come as early
as next week.
The memo said the league will need at least one month to plan
the virtual draft, but the NHL can look to the NFL with optimism
that the draft can be pulled off.
The virtual NFL draft was held April 23-25 without any major
technical glitches and broke television viewership records.
--Field Level Media
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