A virtual NHL draft may make sense after NFL draft moves online
NFL is leading the way with online plan, while hockey brass pondering all options
An NFL draft domino has fallen. Is the NHL next? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has informed league general managers that the 2020 draft — scheduled for April 23-25, in Paradise, Nev. — will have selections made in a fully virtual format.
And because of the indefinite closure of team facilities because of self-isolation, social-distancing and stay-athome directives with the coronavirus pandemic, team personnel have been directed to be in separate locations and use phone or internet technology to communicate and forward their draft selections.
In the league memo obtained by The NFL Network, this directive by Goodell was decisive:
“In response to developing conditions and the advice of medical and public health experts, authorities at all levels of government have expanded the scope and extended the duration of orders requiring residents to shelter-in-place (stay-athome orders) and closing non-essential businesses.
“These orders now cover the vast majority of residents and include every NFL home community. In some locations, these orders extend as far as June, and we should expect that this trend will continue.”
What does this mean for the postponed NHL draft combine, awards and draft that was scheduled for June 26-27 in Montreal?
There’s a level of interest in a scaled-down draft with top prospects, immediate family and team personnel — imagine that scenario in the hockey mecca? — but as health officials extend measures to safeguard contact and potential spread of COVID19, it’s hard to imagine any actual draft model. Especially with Quebec struck so hard by the virus.
A virtual NHL draft and returning to Montreal in 2021 for a full bonanza makes more health and economic sense. The 2019 draft in Vancouver was a hit on all fronts.
In that respect, the NHL board of governors held another conference call Monday. However, there was little to report. Canucks chief operation officer and alternate governor Trent Carroll was on the call and it wasn’t surprising that fleeting hope for resumption of the season trumped any real news in a hockey vacuum.
“It was just a general catch-up call and really nothing that hasn’t been said already,” Carroll said. “It was very much a status-quo kind of call and there’s still optimism and tracking and a belief that we can still move forward at some point — and late summer would be optimistic in some models.”
When the NHL season was placed on pause March 12, the initial 14-day self isolation period was put in place the following day and expired March 27. The hope was players would return to Rogers Arena in small groups to train or skate and hold training camp April 27.
That isolation period has been extended twice to April 15, and April 30 seems like a certainty. So does extending the isolation measures through May and even June.
Anybody up for playoff hockey in August?
“They’re exploring everything,” Carroll added. “And they haven’t got down to any specific one yet. It’s still in the exploration stage. You just plug along and hope to figure something out when things open up again.”
It’s the same story at Rogers
Arena.
The ice is out but decision-making heads are full of ideas on how to keep the Canucks’ brand in the corporate consciousness and fans engaged.
On Monday, health officials in B.C. reported 63 new coronavirus cases in the previous 48 hours to raise the provincial total to 1,266. A total of 140 people have been hospitalized, 72 are in intensive care and 39 have died. Those sobering statistics put sporting concerns on the back-burner, but there’s still a franchise to run.
“We’re out of the normal cycle and this (pandemic) is exceptional, so you have to think things through,” Carroll stressed. “It’s a different world right now. We have to focus on our immediate priorities and we have a lot of community stuff going on with Fin (the mascot). He’s even doing a drive-by to find a kids’ birthday party.
“And we’re doing a lot on the food side and delivering close to 1,000 (hospital) food packages a day now. And we’re just trying to find interesting content to keep this all going to keep people engaged the best we can.”
The Canucks also have an online 50-50 ticket program to support COVID-19 projects, a season-ticket credit initiative for next season should the season be cancelled, and have placed more than 200 displaced part-time workers at Rogers Arena into employment opportunities in the Lower Mainland.
The best news Monday was no COVID-19 cases at Rogers Arena or in the adjacent business tower.
“Not one person who interacted with the person who originally got it (March 10) and recovered has had it since that we’re and they (staff ) are aware of,” Carroll said.