Will the NHL Draft Be Decentralized For Only One Year?
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on the Morning Skate segment with Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick and was asked about the GM’s Meetings. Friedman wondered about the decentralized draft moving forward. He feels this could be a one-hit wonder.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: 2025 NHL Draft, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Timothy Liljegren
Gord Stellick: “But since you’re in Florida, I kidded Scott yesterday, Elliotte, that he did this day in hockey history. And yesterday, one of them was, how many years ago was the Stanley Cup named? And it was 133 years they’ve had goaltender interference on the agenda at a general managers meeting because you got to find a reason to go down there.
So I don’t know if there’s any other scuttlebutt about. Is everyone happy about the state of the game? Are they talking about anything going on? I mean, whether it’s expanding playoffs. I mean, any kind of skinny scuttlebutt you’re getting that is coming out, about trades that almost happened, or whatever may be.”
Elliotte Friedman: “Well, I would say this, it doesn’t sound it like Gordy. Like today’s meetings end in about an hour, and the commissioner is to speak after, and remember last year, I think there were seven rule changes or modifications that were successfully suggested, and not all of them happened. But I remember walking out of there and thinking, wow, they got a lot done. I’m not expecting much this year.
Like, one of the things I was wondering about, and I know they kind of talked about it a bit, was increasing before they got here, they talked about increasing 3-on-3 overtime because of the Canada-Sweden OT at the Four Nations, where (Mitch) Marner scored the overtime winner. But it doesn’t sound like that really got any steam. So I don’t know that we’re going to see much of anything in terms of rule changes.
Decentralizing the NHL Draft is Such A Bad Idea
I think the one thing I talked about last night on my hit is, I’m really curious to see if this decentralized draft is going to be a one-year wonder. I’m beginning to think that’s the case. The Commissioner has made it very clear he did it at the GM meeting in November, and apparently, he did it again yesterday, where he said that, remember, this was your decision, making it very clear that he doesn’t really agree with it.
He has indicated that he doesn’t want this to be a flip-flop. He said that whatever we decide after this year, we will stick with it. So, there definitely is a sense, Gordy, that, especially after last year at the Sphere, and I know we’re not going to the Sphere again, but it was such a big success that I think someone used the phrase brought buyer remorse with me yesterday.
I’m curious to see if this draft thing, ends up being a one-year deal.”
NHLRumors.com Note: As Friedman noted after the GMs finished, Commissioner Gary Bettman reiterated that he was not a fan of the decentralized draft.
Bettman doesn’t hide the fact he is not a fan of the decentralized draft
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 19, 2025
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According to Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects, a unanimous vote is not needed to switch back to an all-centralized draft.
Another point regarding the NHL potentially returning to a full scale, centralized draft in the future.
I spoke to a league source who denied the industry rumour that it would need to be a unanimous vote from the GMs to overturn the remote draft.
— Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) March 19, 2025
It will be interesting to see how the 2025 NHL Draft unfolds in Los Angeles this year.
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