The league is planning to shift from its current setup, in which team executives and scouts are all gathered on the floor of a venue to make their selections, to doing so remotely from their headquarters next year.
“From a club standpoint, it’s excellent, because you can talk freely ... and there’s a lot more room to spread out,” Columbus Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said in favor of holding the draft remotely.Waddell’s biggest concern in going remotely is having fewer prospects — especially those projected to go in the later rounds — in attendance.
“Everything being jammed up,” Treliving said. “I love the draft. I’d love to do it every year. It’s just scheduling more than anything else.” Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon said the Golden Knights were one of the few teams to vote in keeping the status quo. Harrison Brunicke, who is from Johannesburg and grew up in western Canada, was the second South African-born player drafted, going 44th to Pittsburgh. He joins goalie Olie Kolzig, who was also born in Johannesburg, and went No. 19 to Washington in 1989.