October 9, 2024 | 7:20pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com
LOS ANGELES SET TO HOST 2025 NHL DRAFT
Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images
2024 NHL Draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas
The NHL Draft is changing and will be decentralized moving forward, which means team scouts, General Managers and other management figures and executives will not be in attendance, but that doesn’t mean the event isn’t still taking place.
While team reps will be hunkered down in their own cities from now on, but the prospects will still be at the NHL Draft, along with league officials, as the NHL tries to enhance the entertainment value of the event.
On Wednesday, TFP’s David Pagnotta reported the Los Angeles Kings are in line to host the event in June 2025 at Peacock Theater in L.A. Live, across from Crypto.com Arena.
“We can tell you the Draft is heading to Los Angeles,” Pagnotta said during the latest ‘Game Day’ segment with Dennis Bernstein ahead of the Utah Hockey Club’s first game in Salt Lake City.
Pagnotta added that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer and other league executives will be in Los Angeles over the next couple of days to “fine-tune” some of the items related to the Draft with Kings representatives before officially signing off on the event.
A decision has not yet been made on the NHL Awards Show, which may not take place in 2025.
“It’s going to be very different, obviously, but looking forward to it,” Bernstein said. “All the big markets – the a Nashville, like a Vegas – (the NHL) need to take Draft to big markets.”
The Kings last hosted the 2010 NHL Draft at the then-named Staples Center when the Edmonton Oilers selected Taylor Hall first-overall.