The Detroit Red Wings are poised to get themselves a highly skilled player in this year’s National Hockey League Draft, whenever it’s ultimately held.
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutting down of gameplay in March, and among the several proposals that have been discussed included holding the Draft before a potential resuming of the current season.
However, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman wasn’t a fan of that idea.
“It was just suggested possibly, you know, we’ve got all these things on the list, ‘Should we consider getting the draft out of the way early?’ he said.
“My thought is why would you do that, why would you need to do that? 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, or who’s out of the playoffs, in some cases. So if 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 really 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.”
And now, it’s becoming more and more likely that Yzerman may get his wish.
While speaking on Insider Trading on TSN, NHL Insider Bob McKenzie reported that the chances of holding the Draft before the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs is looking more and more remote.
“Well, it’s not officially dead, but it may well be on life support,” he said. “The NHL still thinks it’s a great idea to do the June draft, but obviously the widespread support isn’t there. I think the NHL is starting to get the idea that the time, the effort and the political capital that would be required to convince enough teams that it is a good idea, might not be worth it. No official word until next week, but it’s starting to look a little more pessimistic on that front.”
A plan has yet to be officially announced regarding the future of the 2019-20 NHL Season.
– – Quotes via Bob McKenzie of TSN Link – –
