The big news in hockey over the next few days should be the announcement of whether or not the 2020 Draft will be held on June 5.
When this idea was first floated, I thought it was ludicrous, but it seems to have gained significant steam. As TSN and other outlets have reported, the league sent an eight-page memo to team governors and general managers on Friday, outlining its reasoning behind the June draft idea and addressing some of the operational details that would need to be addressed in order to make it happen.
For the Vancouver Canucks, of course, the big question mark is what will happen with that conditional first-round draft pick that went to Tampa Bay in the J.T. Miller trade — and which has now been shuffled on to New Jersey.
If the plan goes ahead, it sounds like they'd rank teams by points percentage to determine the standings for conditional picks. If that's the case, the Canucks land seventh in the Western Conference — in a playoff position, which would mean that their non-lottery pick *would* go to New Jersey.
But to muddy the waters a bit, there was an item in the memo that it seems will need some clarification:
- conditional trades involving 2020 picks. The NHL says it has reviewed the 15 trades that involve conditional picks with playoff implications and would be ready to suggest solutions to each trade or have both teams agree to “reform the trade on terms acceptable to both teams.”
No one seems to be sure right now if this means that a team like the Canucks would still have the opportunity to potentially negotiate a new mutually-acceptable solution with the Devils, or if these "reforms" would only be available to the deals with even more nebulous conditions.
As Pierre LeBrun points out on Sunday, the June draft idea might not be so bad for the Canucks:
I would say the Canucks are among the teams that may have warmed up to the June draft idea if it means following the proposed layout in Friday’s NHL memo. They would much rather give up a non-lottery 1st RD pick to NJ now than an unprotected 1st RD pick next year.
Vancouver's second-round pick went to Los Angeles in the Tyler Toffoli deal. If the first-rounder goes to the Devils as well, then the Canucks will have just five picks in the 2020 draft — one per round in Rounds 3-7.
In these less-than-ideal circumstances, and with the prospect cupboard already pretty full, perhaps this is not the worst time to be sitting out the top part of the draft. There are some pretty tantalizing prospects in the mix, but as this article points out, scouts have also seen their processes dramatically upended by everything that has happened over the last two months.
There’s talk the NHL could hold its draft online next month even though the 2019-20 season has yet to be completed.
But that’s far from the only unique aspect that will surround the 2020 NHL Draft.https://t.co/Sv8ehkZ0R7
In the article, Canucks' GM Jim Benning laments the lost opportunity to see draft-eligible prospects in big-game situations.
"It’s nice to see how players perform in the playoffs," Benning said. "That’s a big part, I think, of finding players that are winners … when it gets hard in the playoffs, if they step up. We’re going to miss out on all that.
"We’re trying to do the best we can under the circumstances to get to know the players and try to figure out what they’re going to be in three or four years time."
Of course, the Canucks are also dealing with the fact that their director of amateur scouting, Judd Brackett, is only under contract until June 30. There have been plenty of rumours all season long that he's looking to depart for greener pastures.
Speaking generally, Corey Pronman of The Athletic explains why scouts' contract status definitely moves the needle toward a June draft being best for all parties.
In the case of scouts, the issue is they carry intellectual property and are not represented by any union or association. They have intel they’ve gathered on players over the course of years, as well as knowledge of a team’s preferences. There has never been an issue of scout mobility prior to a draft but there is a real concern of that if there is a fall draft given that some scouts become free agents in July.
I don't imagine the Canucks would want Brackett to walk away on July 1 with all his 2020 draft intel stashed on his personal laptop.
Even if Vancouver doesn't pick in the first two rounds, I can appreciate the idea that if the draft goes ahead in June, that gives us something real to discuss over the next four weeks. And while most hockey prospects are not as well known as NFL prospects at the time of their draft, I can understand why NBC and Sportsnet are bullish on the opportunity to hold the NHL draft at a time when there is still not much happening, sports-wise.
They could create a ton of content in the lead-up to the event which would draw more eyeballs to their networks than the never-ending stream of classic games.
In exchange for the broadcast rights money that it receives, the league has an obligation to deliver content to its rightsholders. So I can understand why the folks at the NHL offices are listening hard to those broadcast partners and doing everything they can to promote this idea to team execs who are not too keen on it.
For the most part, the NHL and NBA have been running pretty much in tandem through this crisis — from the timing of their league shutdowns to the ideas being bounced around about creating a hub city or cities where they could finish out the 2019-20 season.
The NBA announced on Friday that it has indefinitely postponed its draft lottery, originally scheduled for May 19, and its draft combine which was scheduled to run from May 19-24. But it's interesting to note that the announcement appears on the NBA website under a big header that still trumpets the league's original draft date — June 25, in Brooklyn, the same weekend that the NHL draft was originally supposed to have been held in Montreal.
I'm now very interested to hear what comes out of the NHL's call with the Board of Governors on Monday. All of a sudden, I wouldn't be surprised if this wacky scheme does end up going ahead once the dollars and cents behind the proposal are presumably laid out.
Now — a couple of other items to wrap up today.
First, Mark Scheifele made Quinn Hughes' case for the Calder and shouted out Elias Pettersson as one of his three favourite players to watch in his Players' Tribune piece this week:
He goes into some detail, including breaking down a play from Quinn's first career NHL game against Los Angeles back on March 28, 2019, and sums up the race between Hughes and Cal Makar with this:
"It’s close, but for me it goes to Hughes. He’s just been that much more creative, and also done more to help his team."
As for Petey, this is a fascinating observation, coming from a big, strong guy like Scheifele — who's a noted hockey nerd who immerses himself deeply in the game:
He’s super unique because of his strength on the puck, which will absolutely catch you off guard because he doesn’t look that big. It’s a huge part of his game, and when I’m watching him I’m not really looking at the puck, but more at how he positions himself in the corners and when trying to beat a guy. I think a lot of guys could learn quite a bit from a Pettersson highlight reel.
The other two players that Scheifele shouts out in his "favourites to watch" category are Patrick Kane and Mathew Barzal.
Also, Dan Murphy has been back at work — catching up with Brock Boeser at his home in Minnesota.
And finally — don't forget that Game 5 of the 2011 Canucks/Blackhawks series runs Sunday on Sportsnet. Note the start time: 8:30 p.m. PT for this one.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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