Vancouver Canucks to Host 2019 Draft

2019 Vancouver NHL Draft[/caption]Gary Bettman, commissioner of the NHL says the league doesn’t regret not sending players to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games saying thatthe NHL is comfortable with the decision we made as a league.

In April, the league announced it would not be participating in the games, the first in the last five Olympic Games that the world’s best players would not play. Bettman said the decision would prevent any disruptions in the HHL schedule and would keep players healthy for the final run before he NHL playoffs.

“The fact our teams would have come back in varying conditions, some teams more banged up and tired than teams where there weren’t that many players at the Olympics, we’re very comfortable with it.”

The Canadian men’s team, filled with many former players from the NHL who play in European leagues, took bronze in the Olympic Games, while Germany lost to Russia in the gold medal game.

Bettman feels that the tournament and gold medal game was entertaining but not the best hockey. He continued by saying,

“Based on the overall reaction that these Olympics got, I think we were justified in our decision and comfortable it was the right decision.”

However, when questioned if the NHL players would participate in the 2022 Games, Bettman didn’t want to speculate saying,

“I’m not in a position to predict. The fact is, even in four years the issue of disruption of our season will be there. It’s not something we are focused on right now.”

SportsNet

In Vancouver to make the announcement, the NHL draft will be a two-day event that will take place on the 21st and 22nd of June and will co-inside with the Vancouver Canucks 50th anniversary. The announcement is good news for the city of Vancouver as economically it will add up to $10 million as a result of television coverage, hotel and restaurant spending. This will be the third time the draft will have been held in Vancouver, with previous drafts being in 1990 and 2006.

When questioned about the successes of first-year expansion team, The Vegas Golden Knights and whether the proposed team slated for Seattle will be treated with the same generosity, Bettman stated,

“We would anticipate that the terms of the expansion draft for a 32nd team would be the same as they were for Las Vegas. My guess is the perspective owners of a 32nd team wouldn’t want to have terms any different than what Las Vegas got, especially because they are going to be paying more.”

Led by Jerry Bruckheimer and David Bonderman, a group in Seattle has submitted an application to bring a team to the city. The expected fee for the expansion team is roughly $650 million. Whether the group will be successful in their bid to bring a team to Seattle is unknown, but for many hockey fans in the city, hopes are high.

Of course, if successful, that will be good news economically for the city, as it has been for Las Vegas, and it is expected that hockey sportsbetting sites will jump on the bandwagon and set odds on whether the expansion team will be successful with their bid. No matter how one looks at it, potential new competition is a good thing for the NHL.