Despite what seemed to be a successful draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas last summer, the NHL has announced that they are going forward with a decentralized draft this summer. It will be held in Los Angeles on June 27th and 28th with league officials, media, and the top prospects in attendance. The team executives will remain in their home cities and participate virtually.
With free agency always following on the heels of the draft, teams felt rushed when they had to fly to a draft city, and then back home following the proceedings. This change will allow them to keep all of their scouts and executives together in one place throughout the entire process. Sadly it will eliminate the “I just saw GM1 talking to GM2” social media posts from bored media members.
Since the general managers won’t be present to announce their picks, that duty will fall to NHL executives. It appears that commissioner (and hall-of-famer) Gary Bettman will announce the first-round picks. He’s really leaning into the role of villain as there is an excellent chance that he will be booed by every fan base in attendance. Sadly, as of now, any Lightning fans hanging out in L.A. won’t get that chance as the Bolts’ first-round pick belongs to Nashville.
Lightning News
No surprise Lightning have rediscovered their groove with Ryan McDonagh [Tampa Bay Times]
The stability of the Mac Truck has been a big key to the improved Lightning defense. He also lends another veteran voice to the locker room.
Hockey News
Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade [Winging it in Motown]
Steve Yzerman cleared out some cap space as he sent goaltender Ville Husso to the Ducks for our old friend, future considerations. With Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot providing adequate goaltending for the Red Wings, Husso was the odd man out. He’ll report to Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, but will likely see some playing time if John Gibson, who is currently day-to-day with an injury, gets moved at the deadline.
Trevor Zegras suspended for three games [DoPS]
Keeping things in Anaheim, forward Trevor Zegras will miss some games for the Ducks (for once it’s not because of an injury). He is suspended for three games following his late, high hit on Michael Rasmussen that involved significant head contact.
Ryan Hartman’s suspension reduced to 8 games [DoPS]
It was a busy day for the Department of Player Safety. They suspended Zegras for three games, but saw their ten-game suspension of Ryan Hartman reduced to eight games. Uncle Gary reasoned that the actions warranted more than six games, but the jump from three games (the length of Hartman’s most recent suspension) to ten games was a bit too much, so he settled on eight.
How concerned should the Oilers be about their goaltending? [Daily FaceOff]
The Oilers are in Tampa tonight, coming off of a couple of less-than-stellar outings. Should they be shopping for a goaltender?
NHL Trade Deadline Preview [ESPN]
The Worldwide Leaders have the Lightning as “bold adders” and listed bottom-six forwards as their biggest need. A couple of names they threw out there are Alex Tuch, Kyle Palmieri, and Jake Evans.
