The NHL's decentralized draft is now a fact of life moving forward
BUFFALO, NY – When NHL general managers voted to keep a decentralized draft, even after the awkwardness of the 2025 event in Los Angeles, it became imperative that the NHL smooth out those issues for 2026 in Buffalo.
And in many ways, the league delivered.
While the draft still lacked the buzz of a centralized draft, it’s no longer the industry-wide weekend it once was; the front-facing product and business elements of the event delivered what the NHL was looking for.
The first round went quicker. They cut out the remote NHL GM interviews, and aside from some farm-related Wi-Fi issues for Carson Carels, the prospect experience was highly improved, moving to a surprisingly efficient couch-rotation system in the first round.
The NHL also did its best to try and amplify celebrity presence, with Justin Bieber announcing the No. 1 Gavin McKenna, albeit awkwardly, and other celebrities like Cobie Smulders, Thurman Thomas, and Luke Bryan making the picks for their favourite NHL teams.
After Round 1, and before Round 2, multiple NHL sources within the league said they were pleased with the result and the efficiency of Friday evening, and as one person involved in the event said, “it’s only going to get better in this format moving forward.”
While Round 2 through 7 still had to be held, one NHL assistant GM told Elite Prospects on Friday night that “I don’t think we are going back, this works too well.”
You can pour one out for media members, myself included, who will miss the old centralized format and what it represented for access. But NHL teams, by and large, felt more comfortable with the decentralized format and enjoyed avoiding the hassle of having to frantically travel on Saturday night or Sunday morning to be at their team headquarters for July 1 and the start of unrestricted free agency.
“It’s one flight now for your picks to come to you, not dozens of flights to get everyone in and out and back,” one NHL executive said. “It’s logistically a dream compared to what was a nightmare.”
Long story short, barring a stunning vote from NHL GMs, this is the new norm.
For some agents, that creates a new reality for their clients and how they approach the draft. One agent said they’ll be more selective of how many players they bring to the draft in the future, and that if the player isn’t a “first-round lock,” they’ll probably advise their client to stay home.
Another pointed to the experience Carels had at his family farm, similar to the one that Brady Martin had in 2025, as something that looks pretty enticing to anyone who isn’t a sure-fire first-rounder.
“How isn’t that more comfortable and enjoyable?” the agent said. “And if you no longer get to meet the GM and team that draft[ed] you, just a PR person, it makes a ton of sense.”
With that being said, the agent said the combine should probably be expanded beyond the 90 players that were invited this year.
“In the past, you’d have kids that weren’t invited to the combine on draft week come meet with teams,” the agent said. “I think the combine needs to go up to 120 players invited in the future for this season.”
It’s funny, because there was a pretty good example of this: The host Buffalo Sabres used some old-school setup to do final research on Daxon Rudolph, who met with Sabres brass on Friday morning before they took him – surprisingly – with the No. 4 overall pick.