NHL argues for June draft in memo

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly sent a memo to teams on Friday night stating reasons why it would be beneficial to still have the draft in June, according to a report by Elliotte Friedman.

You can customize your WPXI News App to receive alerts to sports news. CLICK HERE to find out how.

Daly wrote that if the league waits until after the Stanley Cup is potentially awarded, there could potentially be too short of a period between the end of the 2019-20 season and the start of the 2020-21 season to squeeze in the draft lottery and the draft. If it turns out that the league is not able to resume its 2019-20 season, then the draft lottery and draft would have to be held “at some uncertain time prior to resuming play for the 2020–21 season.”

Holding the draft before the end of the 2019-20 season presents a number of problems, not limited to figuring out a draft order, and deciding how to award conditional draft picks that are dependent on results from the remainder of the season, of which there are 15.

The NHL’s memo recommended that the draft order could be based on points percentage, since teams haven’t played an equal number of games. Typically, the NHL makes three drawings in the draft lottery, to determine the top three picks. For this summer, the NHL suggested just drawing for the No. 1 overall pick, with teams only being able to move up no more than four spots.

Read this full article for FREE at our partners, DKPittsburghSports.com.

Coronavirus: Mass. ‘Killer Poet’ seeks release from prison amid pandemic Coronavirus: Mass. ‘Killer Poet’ seeks release from prison amid pandemic

© 2020 Cox Media Group