There shouldn't be a draft this year IMO. The age should be 19, not 18 and this is the only year you can make the shift. Every other league drafts at like 22, why do we draft at 18?

Because the NHL draft was implemented to prevent teams like the Leafs and Habs from claiming all of the junior players based on territory, and college hockey wasn't really a thing like basketball and football are.

Ok that’s fair, but it’s not ridiculous to move the draft to 19

The percentage of 18 y.o. that play a full season (or remain on an NHL roster for the majority of the season) in the NHL is roughly 1.5% of that year's Draft over the past 3 years. And it's exceedingly rare for a player drafted outside the top 5 to play a full season in the year immediately following their Draft. So you can definitely make a compelling argument for pushing it to 19, but that's as far as I would go.

Raising the age to 19 would level the playing field. Teams with exceptional scouting has a bigger edge at 18 instead of 19 b/c the top scouts can better predict talent. Imagine how much worse off an organization like Tampa would be if the Draft was for 19 year olds. They probably wouldn't have been able to steal guys like Point and Kucherov after the 1st round. I can definitely see both sides of the argument.

Question: If there is no 2021 NHL Draft, will the 2022 Draft consist of 14 Rounds instead of 7? You'd have double the players, right?

The main reason would be because players wanted to lower the drafting age so that they could sign contracts sooner.

The reason the drafting age is 18 now is because of pushing from players like Ken Linseman, in addition to the WHA having a lower draft age so they could scoop up players before they could be drafted into the NHL (ie. Wayne Gretzky).


I don’t understand why we would change the draft. When you turn 18 you become an adult, so I don’t understand why the age for playing professional sports should’ve any different.

And getting rid of the draft this year would be a massive logistical nightmare. What would you do with draft pick rights? You’d obviously get a giant uproar from potential NHLers.

And postponing the draft accomplishes pretty much nothing. The same amount of players would be drafted. The only difference is there will be a handful of players that will be different as to who is drafted. If a player goes undrafted, and they’re good enough to become an NHLer, they’ll get there one way or another.

The MLB frequently drafts 18-year-olds right out of high school. The NBA has a "high school graduation + 1 year" rule, so they draft 19-year-olds quite often. The NFL is the only league that regularly drafts older players, as they have a "high school graduation + 3 years" rule.

No, you'd just back up Shane Wright, Matthew Savoie and Brad Lambert and their class (Rutger McGroarty, Frank Nazar, Adam Fantilli, etc.) to 2023 because they'd be ineligible for another year. Or you could allow guys like Lambert, Savoie and Wright to be eligible, under the condition they play 40 games in the NHL or something like that.

As a solution for that you could just allow guys like Power, Wright, Lambert, etc. to enter the draft at 18. It'd be like exceptional status, though not as rare. If you enter at 18, you have to get NHL time though. The reason it should be different is that although you are officially an adult, you are not a fully developed adult. It would allow for less bust draft picks and more late bloomers to shine. Think about how many guys actually play at 18. The most I can remember is 2016 with Matthews, Laine, Dubois, Puljujarvi and Tkachuk. Then at 19, basically any body in the 1st round and anomalies like Nick Robertson are ballpark NHLers. I think the only guys who'd uproar would be Owen Power, Carson Lambos, Simon Edvinsson, etc. Only your guys who have a chance to step right in and honestly, there's a chance nobody does that besides like 1st and 2nd but not because there, ready but because the teams want them right now. The same amount of players would be drafted, but not the same players and that is important because it allows those guys to have a chance in an NHL stream. Players who go undrafted may not necessarily follow the same path as a drafted player. They go to the U Sport league, then European pro and just never get discovered. David Rittich was discovered by accident. Think bout how many guys are like Rittich but that accident never happened.

The MLB has like 40 rounds, most of which are busts so I think that it is an example of how not to run a draft. The NBA only drafts guys like Zion, Bronny, RJ Barrett, etc out of high school. The NHL could allow guys like Wright, Lambert or Savoie to enter the draft at 18. They could have a rule where if you enter at 18, you have to be NHL ready. Kind of like exceptional status, but like 3-5 guys get it a year instead of 1 every 5 years.

You're just making the draft more confusing. It's fine the way it is.

You're not supposed to be guaranteed good players in the draft, that's why you scout them.

Exactly. You don’t need the draft to be so that every team is perfect and gets the exact best player. You just need to have a system of distributing young players in a way where teams are each getting a fair opportunity at getting players. Which is what the current system is. And after nearly 60 years of fine tuning, I’d say the draft has gotten as close to perfect as it can be.

For 18 year olds, it isn’t just playing in the NHL that helps them out. Any player who signs an ELC, even if they stay in junior gets their signing bonus, which helps out a lot for people who spend a lot of time playing hockey when they don’t even get paid.

And you give an example of David Rittich, but how would a 19-year old draft change anything for him? He was still playing in the same league for the same team as a 17, 18, and 19 year old, and didn’t get drafted any of those years. Sure there are good players who never get to the NHL, but changing the draft by 1 year won’t make a difference for them, and even if it did, that extra year is taking away an opportunity from another player.

So then NHL teams have 1 year to judge players in the CHL before they have to sign them? That's a disaster waiting to happen. Raising the draft age isn't as simple as raising the draft age.

It's only confusing for a little while, not forever. It was confusing when they originally lowered the age, yet they powered through the confusion. Expansion drafts are confusing but they need to happen for the purposes of the league. It's about both the players and teams. Both benefit. You still won't be guaranteed good players, but you'll have a much better idea of who can succeed in the NHL and you'll see more guys make an immediate impact which will excite fans. as for the players side, there's a lot of guys who aren't good enough at 18, develop a lot, are good enough at 19 and 20 and the just don't get drafted because they are overagers and teams are more excited by 18 year olds. This way, these guys who are more deserving of a draft pick (because they are better at closer to an NHL age) will actually get drafted.

What 18 year old do you know that will spend his signing bonus on anything other than a house boat? That's what I'd have done. Most of these guys are billetted and still have expenses paid for. Guys in the CHL get paid a little bit, NCAA guys don't sign, European guys are paid and junior A guys are mostly illegally and unofficially paid by their teams.

It likely wouldn't have changed anything for him specifically, but it would for lots of other 19, 20 and 21 year olds. All guys who will play at the NHL (with the exception of goalies) are very good and discoverable at about 20 years old. Elites are the best as teens but your typical NHLer won't show until about 20ish. It would just allow for more accuracy closer to NHL readiness and give guys who are more likely to succeed the best opportunity. The guys getting screwed out of opportunities as 18 year olds would be good enough to get drafted at 19 again, or they aren't worthy of a draft pick to begin with. If your 4th round pick isn't good enough to be drafted at 19, he's probably going backwards or flatlining and if you flatline at 18, you won't make the jump.

That is the wrinkle I wasn't sure about. I thought about that, but it's not like they only have 1 year. Scouting won't change, they'll still watch the same guys and have a book on them before their draft. they would just own them for one year, they still will have watched them for a few. It would only seem like they had 1 year to make the choice when in reality, there previous years of experience don't disappear, they are just pre-draft.

There would have to be more adjustments than just the CHL. It's very unfair to give NHL teams 4+ years to judge a college player but only 1 for CHL players. This would wreck the CHL leagues IMO.

Players won't want to play in the CHL if it means they only have 1 year to earn an NHL contract rather than the standard 2.

I think that they would just be judged on what they did pre draft to see if they signed. If it deters CHL, is that the worst thing in the world? To have more kids with NCAA experience is better for hockey and hockey players. There would be more effective NHLers as I believe the NCAA is a far better developmental option and even if those players fail, they have a college degree to get a job.

So your argument is that all 18 year olds are idiots? I know that there are a lot of bad people around the world, but the majority of people don’t think like that. And you’re making the assumption that every player’s families are well off. Their family could be just getting by, and a Junior salary isn’t enough to live off of. And getting money to invest early is helpful for people whose careers usually end around age 35.

And again, the drafting of players isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t need to be. What does pushing the draft accomplish? All it does is make scouting departments look better, and doesn’t really benefit anyone other than I guess below average scouts.

No, I'm not saying that all 18 year olds are idiots. Some are, but that goes at any age. I just think that money could be put to better use at an older age because you do mature and get more responsible as you get older (that's just a fact). I also don't think that being reckless at a young age is bad, it's natural. Being a criminal is bad, not having fun when you have minimal responsibility. I'm assuming that all billet families are well off because they usually are because they are taking in another child. When I was billeted at 18, my family and all my teammates families were well off. A few of my friends billet now and they are all very well off. That could just be my experience, but I don't think there are many billets who can't support their billet child. If they are living at home, hockey is an expensive sport, MOST hockey playing families are well off. I understand that not all are but these kids aren't entitled to that money. It's a bonus and a dream come true. They aren't going to starve to death if they have to wait another year for it. All the kids that would sign out of the draft are still going to sign out of it in 1 year, the 3rd round picks and deeper won't sign so this part isn't really about them. I think that it would benefit the good scouts as well, it would widely reduce their misses and it also helps out players more than it hurts them. These kids aren't entitled to their signing bonuses, or getting drafted so the kids that have a chance at getting drafted at 18 will still get drafted at 19 if they have a chance at making the NHL (I just mean that because, if you are a draft pick at 18 and aren't at 19 you are flatlining and that's bad. If it's an injury that's one thing, but it's usually a lack of work). It would help out guys who are progressing rapidly late and are better and more likely to get picked at 19. The guys who make it are the hardest workers and the hardest workers sometimes shine later on in their careers. This would allow NHL scouts to find these guys in the draft easier and not have to go searching through the depths of European pro in 5 years. I might just be biased towards these guys as a I was a late blooming player (not good enough to play NHL, but you probably follow what I'm saying) and I just want all these guys to get a chance to succeed. I think that you are viewing this as a fan or as a team rather than as a player which is how I'm approaching it. As for the retiring at 35 point, they will get their money, just not as soon. If you are going to start to slack off at 18 and then go undrafted when you could have been drafted a year earlier, you probably shouldn't get your signing bonus. The people who are good enough to get signed out of the draft anyways will make that money later on in their careers wether that's AHL, NHL or European pro. Maybe not as much, but if you are financially responsible or intelligent it will more than likely be enough to invest and use when you're done with hockey.