Gavin McKenna is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft, and when his name is called in Buffalo, N.Y., on Friday night, he will embrace his family, receive cheers from the sold-out crowd and shake hands with league commissioner Gary Bettman. But for the star left winger, meeting the group that’s actually selecting him, the front office of the Toronto Maple Leafs, will have to wait.
That’s because the NHL switched its draft to a decentralized format last year. The league used to have decision-makers and other personnel from all 32 of its teams gather on the floor of wherever the marquee offseason event was held, which NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer called a “who’s who of hockey.”
Now, the franchises run their draft operations remotely from their home cities, similar to how it’s done in the NFL, the NBA and MLB.
Teams were eager for a change, finding the travel burdensome and the schedule too hectic to focus on roster preparations, with the league’s awards ceremony, the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the start of free agency unfolding in a few weeks’ time. Having competing franchises all in the same room also raised privacy issues, and Mayer said there were discussions on how potential moves could be visually tipped off. So after conducting a vote with its general managers, who polled their respective organizations, the NHL opted to shake the event up.
