The much-maligned decentralized draft doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
NHL teams voted in favour of keeping the new format for the 2026 Draft, Sportsnet can confirm.
About two-thirds of clubs voted to keep the draft decentralized.
The league had been polling clubs on their thoughts in the aftermath of last month’s decentralized draft. Many of the top picks were in Los Angeles, where the league staged its television broadcast, but club personnel remained in their home markets.
This year’s first round went over four hours, though deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday that he believes there’s an “easy fix” to shorten it with some work on the production.
Still, the first impression was not ideal, as many felt the TV product to be disjointed as just-drafted players spoke virtually to the executives who selected them on giant screens with sometimes-shaky connections.
The NHL was unique prior to this year in putting everyone under one roof for the draft. The NBA and NFL drafts have been decentralized for years.
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