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Draft: we will see Kent Hughes (in Montreal) shake hands with the player he chooses (in Los Angeles)
Félix Forget
Draft: we will see Kent Hughes (in Montreal) shake hands with the player he chooses (in Los Angeles)
Credit: Getty Images
Usually, at the NHL draft, all teams are on the floor. In the first round, teams go to the podium to announce their pick and welcome their new prospect, and it makes for great moments.

And mostly, it makes it different from other leagues, where the drafted player shakes the commissioner’s hand under his new colors without the team’s representatives being there.

However, this year, it will be different: the managers of each team will be gathered in their own market, and they will not be in Los Angeles. This is the concept of a “decentralized” draft.

On the other hand, even if Kent Hughes and the habs will be in Montreal that evening, we will see the GM shake the hand of the prospect he will draft, who will be in Los Angeles.

He talked about it during the baladodiffusion Radar (Commission Athlétique), whose excerpt is placed here:

In short, according to LeBrun, the prospects will be brought into a separate room, and that’s when they will be able to shake the hand (virtually) of the managers of the team that just drafted them.

The league is still working on it, but it’s in the plans.

In fact, it’s a way to try to recreate the magic of the moment… but we can really wonder if it will really work. Knowing that all of this will be done virtually, it kind of breaks the magic, we agree.

And necessarily, if the league thinks of doing this, it’s possibly because we realize across the league that the idea of a decentralized draft may not be optimal. It had gotten a lot of support at first (26 teams were in favor) in order to save money… but according to LeBrun, teams are starting to realize that they won’t really save money.

The idea of “recentralizing” the draft will be evaluated after the amateur auction… and I have the impression that we will go back to the classic format in 2026. Unless the result in 2025 makes the teams really happy, obviously.

But despite everything, even if Kent Hughes and the player he will select will be separated by three time zones, we will see the GM shake the hand of the player he will select that evening.

Obviously, it won’t happen if the GM trades his two first-round picks before the draft… but as of today, we risk seeing him give (at least) a virtual handshake on June 27th.


Overtime

– Jayden Struble is giving it his all. And no, he shouldn’t be the one who takes the hit when Kaiden Guhle returns.

– Tony DeAngelo is on a roll.

– Who else?

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