The NHL announced back in March that the scouting combine and draft were being postponed and it was unclear when and how the draft lottery would be determined. Still, this hasn’t stopped front offices from preparing for the 2020 NHL Draft as best they can despite the circumstances.
“It’s been unique, it’s been different,” San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said Tuesday during an appearance on Hockey Central. “We’ve been living on Zoom.”
With the CHL, NCAA and leagues across Europe cancelling the remainder of their respective seasons due to COVID-19, there aren’t live games for NHL scouts to watch.
This means teams have had to adapt.
“We’re doing a lot of things differently, I guess, some of them we might continue to use in the future,” Wilson said. “But we’ve got action items that we’ve got prioritized and every day you’ve just got to get some work done. It’s just a different time for everybody. You know what you need to get done. We just don’t know what the timelines are to activate on certain things.”
With travel restrictions and social distancing practices in place, plus no combine, there aren’t the opportunities with which to meet prospects face-to-face.
“I’ve actually found the Zoom interviews have been pretty good with some of these kids,” Wilson explained. “Whether they feel more comfortable in their own room, in their own setting, they don’t have other people around them so you can probably get into some more real subjects.
“The thing for me, it would be nice to have the combine, it would be nice to sit in a room with them but it’s the same for every team, so whenever the draft comes our way we’re going to be ready. I know our (staff) they’ve done a boatload of work. I think they’re up to 160 or 170 Zoom interviews so they’re ready to go.”
To date, it remains unclear when the 2020 NHL Draft will take place. The league sent a memo to teams on May 1 stating it hoped the draft could take place in June but nothing has been determined.
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