2020 NHL Draft will be held on October 6 and 7
The 2020 NHL Draft will be held a little bit earlier than expected.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has tossed a monkey wrench into the schedule of the sporting world. Obviously, the NHL has not be exempt, as they had to cancel the rest of their regular season and put together a 24-team expanded Stanley Cup Playoffs. Another thing it affected was the 2020 NHL Draft.
It was originally scheduled to be held in June, but the pandemic made it impossible to have. Though the draft was originally slated to be held on October 9th and 10th, according to Elliotte Friedman, the draft will be moved up a few days to October 6th and 7th.
The first round will be held on the 6th while the rest of the draft will be held on the 7th, which is how it’s been done in recent years. Just a little bit earlier in the year.
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It sounds like it will be held virtually, much like the 2020 NFL Draft. The 2020 NHL Draft was originally scheduled to held in Montreal. It’s not likely an in-person draft will be plausible, or even possible, by early October.
Why is it being moved up? Well, there are several theories. The most likely reason, though, is it will give teams a bit more time before free agency. Currently, free agency is slated to start on the 9th. Maybe the NHL came to their senses and realized having free agency start on the same day as the draft wasn’t a good idea.
This free agency period is going to be quite different from previous ones. There isn’t going to be a raise of the salary cap, as it will be stagnant at $81.5 million. Most teams are pretty darn close to the cap ceiling. And a lot of teams are struggling financially since the pandemic ended the regular season.
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With the draft being moved up, key dates for the offseason could be affected as well. Here at Puck Prose, we’ll be sure to keep you updated!