Executives and agents weigh in on the continued decentralization of the NHL Draft
Throughout the process NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has maintained a decentralized draft was a an NHL team decision.
Whether it was leading into, during, or after, Bettman's go-to line has been that teams voted for this, in overwhelming fashion, the count was 26-6, and it would be up to the teams if they wanted to continue drafting this way in the future.
And after the 2025 NHL Draft, which was a very clunky and awkward TV presentation, featuring a first round that slogged on, it appears NHL general managers have voted to give it another try.
That news started to surface this week, through reports on social media from Elite Prospects' Cam Robinson and others.
There are several in the hockey world that have quickly echoed the public reaction – what are we doing here?
“This would be a very unfortunate decision as it not only takes away from the product but the kids and scouts as well," one NHL executive said.
“It's a hockey ops decision first here,” one NHL team president said. “I defer to them, but to me I thought for sure we'd be going back to fully in-person after what was put together.”
But what was put together, still worked for several NHL GMs. Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, for example, praised the new format in his post draft press availability, noting how it was more comfortable drafting and easier to answer the phone on potential deals from a decentralized war room.
Others in the league backed this thought up, that while the pomp and circumstance – and the league-wide networking – was missed, it was easier to do the main job, draft players.
“It was long on the public end and I get that, but honestly aside from missing out catching up with some people you see all the time, it was good for us,” an NHL assistant GM said. “I think it's more about tweaking what they do for the viewer than just going back to flying everybody to one place because of a poor TV show.”
This same assistant GM pointed out that with how condensed the schedule is, it doesn't make sense to have teams fly to one location in late June, then have everyone panic to make it back home in time for July 1. They noted how multiple teams did their July 1 operations in 2024 in Las Vegas after the draft because of this.
“It's too much and the travel doesn't make sense, you can just fly all of your scouts to your home headquarters, a place you know and have the hotels and everything,” another NHL executive said. “And then you can get the job done, and just meet your first-round pick at development camp in a couple days.”
Another NHL executive pointed out that the NHL is the only draft that wasn't decentralized, and that the pushback against all of this, to them, felt a bit forced.
“Just fix the presentation, that's what you need to do,” they said.
Many NHL agents, who often foot the bill for their clients to be at the draft, understandably had more frustrating feelings after watching players go through an awkward song and dance on live TV.
“It’s hard to say. I think it still is a special moment for the players and their families," said Jessey Morin, a an agent with Quartexx. "I would think that it won’t change anything for the top-ranked prospects but maybe that the ones that could end up getting drafted in later rounds will rather stay home to live the event with family and friends.”
“At the end of the day, this is still an entertainment busines…and the league has some work to do on that end. I wouldn’t be surprised if more players start choosing to stay home and host their own draft parties. If that happens, it’s a miss," said Michael Rafferty an agent with Kaizen Sports & Entertainment Ltd. "Hard to tell a guy who pays 500 lower bowl tickets a $20 beer it’s about cost savings for the owners. At some point the ‘hockey decision’ has to take a backseat to the fan experience. Without them there are no hockey decisions to be made ”
Many agents brought up the fact that from an NHL perspective, part of the reason they were happy to foot the bill before was the opportunity for their client to meet his new employer in person. And that going forward, if the draft is decentralized, the league needs to start covering more costs of the players that are invited to the in-person part of the decentralized draft.
“Every tv show or movie in the world has to pay for the talent to be there. I’m not implying they should pay cash to top-ranked guys. But they should definitely have to cover expenses for first rounders to attend the draft," one agent said.
One NHL executive said he understood where the agents were coming from here, and circled back to his thought – fix the product.
“The draft shouldn't be about executives or GMs or whatever, look at the NFL draft, it's just a quick shot to a war room, nothing more,” they said. “If you just went and copied the most popular draft there is – think about how many people watch the NFL draft – no one would be complaining about where everyone was sitting.”
Another NHL executive said a bit of the quiet part out loud.
“People who want and care about the draft being completely in person are people, like media, who need to get more information, they need that in-person opportunity – I get it,” they said. “But you can fix the TV product, and teams can be as secretive as they want and if that's the case, we'll never go back to the old format.”