2020 NHL Draft: Should teams get the picks they traded back?

Many NHL teams traded 2020 NHL Draft picks at the trade deadline. The league should reimburse them for those picks.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has caused the NHL a lot of pain and damage. But it has also created a significant question – how are things going to play out at the 2020 NHL Draft? When will it be held? A bigger question is, should teams be reimbursed for draft picks?

To answer the first question, the league is leaning towards a draft in June, which could be before the season restarts. However, teams aren’t necessarily on board with that. Of course, the draft could be (and likely should be) held after the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That would make sense. But what if the draft is in June? This brings up some obvious issues, so let’s go through them.

Should Teams Get Picks Back?

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At the 2020 NHL trade deadline, many teams gave up 2020 draft picks to acquire players. They obviously haven’t gotten what they were expecting, thanks to the season’s hiatus. Now, nine times out of 10, I’d say, “tough luck”. Sometimes a trade works out, sometimes the guy you trade for gets injured immediately and doesn’t play for you again.

But this is very different. Injuries are a part of hockey. They happen to everyone. However, nobody could have reasonably predicted the pandemic would shutdown the league. Teams aren’t getting what they expected to get, and it’s not their fault. For that reason, the league should reimburse teams for draft picks.

Now, I’m not saying that the teams that got those picks should lose them. Rather, the NHL should look at the NFL. They have these things called “compensatory picks”. The NHL could give them at the end of each round depending on what each team gave up.

For example, the Washington Capitals traded their 2020 third-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for Ilya Kovalchuk. The Caps ought to get a pick back at the end of the third round. This way, the Canadiens rightfully get to keep the draft pick they got while the Capitals still get something.

What About Conditional Picks?

Here’s where the fun starts. Some trades involving 2020 picks have included conditions, some of which depend on a team making the playoffs or going far in the playoffs. Honestly, I don’t know what the league should do, other than, you know, have the draft after the playoffs? But if it’s going to be in June, somebody’s going to be unhappy.

An example of this trade is the one that sent J.T. Miller from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks gave up their 2020 first-round pick, but it turns into a 2021 first rounder if the Canucks don’t make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Well, if the draft is in June, what do you do? The Canucks aren’t officially in the postseason, nor are they out of it. I guess that makes them Schrodigner’s hockey team?

The NHL seems to want the draft in June before the season resumes in July. If that’s the case, there are a ton of questions that need to be answered.