Will the NHL continue with the decentralized draft format?
According to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, who recently spoke on The FAN Morning Show, it seems likely the league might not hold the draft in a single central location again in 2026.
The league has been surveying teams following last month`s decentralized draft. In that setup, top prospects attended the television broadcast event in Los Angeles, while team personnel remained in their home markets.
Previously, the NHL was unique among major North American sports leagues for gathering everyone under one roof. Both the NBA and NFL drafts have operated in a decentralized manner for many years.
“What I will say is we continue to see support for a decentralized draft (from the clubs),” Daly stated during an interview.
“A significant factor appears to be the ability to efficiently access your hockey operations staff in a calm, professional environment. Our teams take the draft very seriously, as they should; it helps define the future of the franchise, making sound decisions in the draft context. Given how crowded the end of our season has become with all the obligations clubs, managers, and players have leading up to free agency, the efficiency of not having to travel to a central location is something very appealing to a number of our clubs.”
“We will gather and process that information from the polling and then make decisions regarding the format for next year. Essentially, many of the original reasons for moving to the decentralized draft have been reinforced by the feedback we`ve received from the recent poll.”
Sportsnet`s Elliotte Friedman previously reported that he heard the majority of clubs who responded to the poll are in favor of retaining the decentralized draft format.
This year`s first round extended beyond four hours, but Daly believes there`s an “easy fix” through production adjustments to shorten it.
Importantly, the push to implement the decentralized draft for the 2025 version originated from the individual franchises.
“When we initially made the decision and announcement to go to a decentralized draft, many people felt it was the league`s initiative. Quite frankly, it was actually at the clubs` initiative,” he explained. “We heard from a number of clubs, and we conducted a straw poll on the issue. I can tell you the Commissioner and I were actually very surprised by the results of that straw poll; it was overwhelmingly in favor of a decentralized draft.”
