MANALAPAN, Fla. — We’re months away from the NHL hosting its first non-Covid-season decentralized draft, and it’s possible it’ll be the last of its kind.
As NHL chief content officer and president of events Steve Mayer said Wednesday, 26 of 32 general managers initially voted to keep themselves and their teams at their respective home bases for the draft, but many of them in attendance at the three meetings held at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa this week have expressed a realization that whatever financial savings thought to be gained by not being on location for the draft have largely been offset by costs of hosting their staffs in their respective cities.
“This is what the clubs said they wanted,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after the GM meetings wrapped. “A number of them said maybe we should (change back). I said, ‘Listen, we’ll go through this experience and if there’s a surge of interest to go back, we’ll put it back to the clubs again.’ We ended the old framework with a bang doing it in the Sphere (in Las Vegas), and if the sense is we’d rather be together… We let the clubs make this determination, and we’ll execute in accordance with their desire to be decentralized, understanding the prospects — all of them, even if they’re going No. 1 and you know who you’re picking — are going to be with us in Los Angeles. But if there’s a desire to go back because the clubs miss each other and miss being on the floor together, we’ll put it back to a vote again. We can be flexible. This is us executing the will of the clubs.”
Executing from a logistical standpoint, from the Peacock Theatre in L.A., will be complex.
Bettman said at least one representative from each team must be in attendance to relay information from their club so any confusion can be avoided. And he noted any complication from a production standpoint would have to be ironed out in the lead-up to the event.
Mayer said only 50 prospects would be invited to attend and that no other prospect would be deterred from attending if they wished to.
Mayer added Bettman wouldn’t be announcing all the picks. He said celebrities would be on hand to make some of the selections and elaborated on how the first round will proceed.
Once a player is selected, they’ll be walked through the door of what Mayer termed “a virtual hockey house,” where the background will reflect their new team’s branding and where they’ll be connected via a two-way camera with their new team’s administration for a televised first interaction.
Mayer said the hope is to keep the event from being “as formulaic” as it appears in some of the other sports that have adopted decentralized drafts.
Still, the spice of visible trade buzz will be missing from the floor without GMs in attendance.
If the GMs feel the same way about it after this first one goes by, a return to the traditional format could be in order.
All-Star Game in doubt
Feedback from general managers involved in the recent 4 Nations Face-Off was unanimously positive, according to Bettman.
It was such a great moment for hockey this past February — coinciding with a relatively flat one for NBA All-Star Weekend — that the thought of following it up with what would have to be considered a much duller one in Elmont, NY., next February appears unappetizing.
It’s why cancelling the All-Star Game that was promised to New York Islanders fans hasn’t yet been fully stricken as a possibility.
“All options are on the table,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, though Mayer said outright cancelling was a very minute possibility.
Postponing it a year isn’t necessarily likely, either.
“We’ve promised the Islanders an event, and Islander fans deserve an event that we promised, so we’re focused on what we need to do,” Bettman said.
Mayer said all NHL players destined for the Olympics will travel to New York to depart from JFK airport, so the desire is to have them participate in some sort of event at UBS Arena.
As for what that event will be, that’s yet to be determined.
When that will be decided, Daly said, will be “relatively soon,” and that fans should expect it to be settled before the beginning of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bits and bytes
• Formal CBA talks between the NHL and NHLPA are set to begin the first week of April.
As for how they’ll go, Bettman said, “I don’t think, on either side, we’re looking at fundamental issues. I’m anticipating, based on what I’m hearing from (NHLPA director) Marty (Walsh), that we’ll have good discussions, and I’m hoping we can do this quickly, quietly and painlessly.”
The commissioner has said several times he’s hopeful a new CBA could be settled by this coming summer, well in advance of the current agreement expiring in September of 2026.
• Bettman isn’t in favour of extending three-on-three overtime, despite it being featured in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“I’m not a fan of the extended overtime because of ice conditions and the wear and tear on the players who would be playing the additional five minutes,” he said. “I worry about that, and injuries.”
Players weren’t fans of the extended television timeouts during the tournament.
The ones we spoke to were unanimous in not wanting the NHL to adopt extra 30-second breaks while cutting each intermission by one minute.
We asked Bettman for the NHL’s stance on it, and whether the financial incentive of increased ad revenue might initiate change, and he said, “It works both ways.”
“It may be better for TV (financially),” Bettman said, “(but) it may be worse for concessions and building experience and even bathroom lines.”
He added the league hasn’t debriefed on the subject yet, but that it will eventually evaluate it.
• No new rule recommendations came from the GMs at these meetings.
• A meeting is scheduled between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation to firm up the Olympic agreement in two weeks.
• With international trade disrupted by tariffs being imposed on both sides of the U.S-Canadian border, Bettman was asked about his concerns that hockey-related revenue could be affected.
“I think I’m on record as saying if the Canadian economy is impacted to the extent that the Canadian dollar declines vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar, we do everything in U.S. dollars, so that would have an impact potentially on our Canadian clubs and HRR,” he said. “We’re hoping this is just a moment in time and we’ll get through this. I’m not weighing in politically.”
When asked to weigh on whether expected salary cap increases over each of the next three off-seasons might need to be revised, Bettman said, “If we have to make an adjustment, we will.”
“But our expectation is we’re still on track,” he added.
• Bettman remains firmly against expanding the playoffs or allowing for a play-in at the end of the regular season.
“I like exactly what we have,” he said, “and if you look at the races we’re having for the regular season, playoffs have started already. We’re in our play-in tournament and I think it’s terrific.”
As for potentially shortening the pre-season while lengthening the regular season by two games, he said it remains something the league would continue to discuss with the PA — and something that should be discussed.
“We need to take each others’ temperature and decide if it’s the right thing,” Bettman said.
What he doesn’t think should be further gauged is whether the format of the regular season should change.
As it stands, each team visits every building for games at least once, with divisional teams visiting each other most frequently and more intra-conference games than inter-conference games.
Bettman said according to the league’s polls, “Fans want this overwhelmingly.”
