LOS ANGELES — The NHL announced the postponement of its draft, scouting combine and annual awards ceremony on Wednesday, the latest major events to be disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
No new dates for any of the events were announced. When the draft will take place, and how the teams will evaluate potential prospects, remains to be seen. The combine was scheduled for June 1-6 in Buffalo, N.Y. The draft was slated for June 26-27 in Montreal.
The NHL isn’t the first U.S. sports league that has had to alter its draft plans. The NFL canceled its in-person event in Las Vegas, scheduled for late April, and will instead stage the draft in a TV studio. Major League Baseball is reportedly considering skipping its 2020 draft, scheduled for June 10-12, to save money in what will likely be a shortened season.
The NHL has never canceled a draft since it was first held in 1963. The last time it wasn’t held during its normal late June time slot was in 2005, when a season-long lockout pushed the draft back to July.
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