HOLDING DRAFT BEFORE SEASON ENDS PITCHED
NHL commissioner and deputy propose holding event in June
Gary Bettman and Bill Daly took their idea to hold the draft before the season is completed to the NHL’s board of governors Monday afternoon.
Though no final decision was made, many league executives believe it’s now a fait accompli. This is big news for the Ottawa Senators, who have three picks in the first round of the draft.
“Good discussion. No decision yet,” Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, told Postmedia in an email Monday night.
The NHL commissioner and Daly were willing to listen to the concerns of the 31 owners, but an eight-page memo sent to the governors and general managers Friday by Daly indicated this is something the league wants for itself and its television partners to help stir up some interest in a difficult situation.
“If Bettman and the league want it then it’s going to happen,” said a league executive Monday.
Since there are concerns holding the lottery before the season is officially completed means that a team could technically win the Stanley Cup and hold the No. 1 pick overall by winning the lottery.
Daly noted in the memo the NHL could go back to its old system of having 15 teams in the draft and awarding only one winner based on the points-percentage when the league went on pause March 12.
Of course, that would be outstanding news for the Senators who could fall no further than
No. 3 and No. 4 with their own pick and the one they have from the San Jose Sharks in the Erik Karlsson deal. It gives the club about a 24 per cent shot at No. 1. That gives Ottawa a chance to get top selection Alexis Lafreniere of the Rimouski Oceanic in what’s considered to be a strong draft.
Under the current system, the Detroit Red Wings have the best odds at winning the lottery at 18.5 per cent while the Senators will have a 13.5 per cent chance with their own pick and a 11.5 per cent opportunity with San Jose’s pick. The third first-round pick they have from the Islanders in the Jean-Gabriel Pageau deal is lottery protected if it’s in the top three so that’s really not a factor in the big scheme of things.
The memo noted some GMs don’t like the idea of an early draft, but the league wanted their executives to think outside the box.
“We have received a fair amount of feedback on the concept of conducting an early draft, primarily from general managers, a majority of whom appear to prefer maintaining the “status quo” (i.e., wait until the “conclusion” of the 2019-20 season, whenever that might be),” Daly said.
“Quite frankly, whatever we decide to do, there is no way, under these most unusual circumstances, for us to maintain the “status quo. We do believe that there are valid reasons to consider moving forward with a June draft, which would appear, on balance, to have more upside potential and predictability for the clubs and the league.” One of the concerns, the teams have is the fact the draft is often used as a place for trades by moving contracts in exchange for draft picks down the road. For example, the Senators have 13 picks in total in this draft and the reality is they have no intention of taking all of those players because some of those would be moved to help bolster the roster.
“While we acknowledge that the possibility of moving players on active rosters will be effectively eliminated in connection with an early draft (because of trade deadline and playoff eligibility restrictions), that fact would not limit the clubs’ abilities to engage in various other transactions involving player assets,” Daly wrote.
Three league executives noted to Postmedia there is a way around that by making side deals, much the same way the Vegas Golden Knights did going into the expansion draft in 2017. GM George McPhee gave every team in the league the opportunity to keep their players by offering up assets in return and none of those were registered with the NHL.
The Knights made a side deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on March 1, 2017, that the league had no issue with because TSN’s Pierre Lebrun noted it was a “unique” situation. Well, there’s nothing normal about the current situation and Fleury went on to help the Penguins win a Stanley Cup that spring before he moved to Vegas.
That goes to show you anything is possible.
But the league wouldn’t like that approach because the information about the deal could leak out. That said, it’s one way around the hurdle and a feasible solution.
Daly wrote in the memo that in the last five years of the 106 draft-day trades that took place that more than 64 of those (60 per cent) would have been permitted if the annual crapshoot had been held earlier.
“While there would unquestionably be an impact on the type of trades that could be made in the context of an “early draft,” adopting the “early draft” option would not preclude all draft-related trades, and those that would be precluded, could still occur in the off-season,”
Daly said.