After this pesky 30 team hockey season going on right now comes to a close, the eyes of the hockey universe will all be focused on Las Vegas.
The Expansion Draft takes place from June 18th to the 20th with the unveiling of the rosters on the 21st. The NHL Awards show is expected to be the same day, and finally we’ve got some clarity on how the NHL plans on showing the world the 30 players George McPhee selected in the Expansion Draft.
In a conversation with Puck Daddy at the league general managers meetings about the upcoming NHL Awards, chief content officer Steve Mayer mentioned that the NHL will look to televise both the awards and the announcement of the expansion roster of the Vegas Golden Knights around same timeframe Las Vegas. It’s currently unclear, which television partner the NHL will use for the expansion draft. –Josh Cooper, Puck Daddy
Before you jump down anyone’s throat saying, “they should televise the draft itself!” read this, then come back and finish this article.
It is a step in the right direction that the league has confirmed it will indeed show the reveal of the picks, hopefully on NBC or at least NBCSN.
The Creator has said on multiple occasions that the Expansion Draft reveal will be at T-Mobile Arena, will be open to the public, and he wants to announce a pick once every five minutes. With the event being on TV, they’ll likely have to speed it up a bit, but it should be a memorable event no matter how it actually goes down. The Creator has even gone as far as saying he expects the building to be at max capacity, which would be amazing.
The Golden Knights are expected to unveil their jerseys at the Expansion Draft reveal as well.
As for the NHL Awards Show, we have multiple sources who have told us the preliminary plans are to hold it at The Park Theater right next door to T-Mobile Arena. Previous Awards shows have been at the Hard Rock, Wynn, and Palms, but there’s no denying now that MGM has a theatre the correct size (around 4,000), they’ll want to keep the NHL’s events all in the family.
The news of televising the reveal isn’t surprising in the least, but with the recent revelations of the league considering not making the protection lists public during the Expansion Draft, we’ve learned not to take anything for granted.
@Real_ESPNLeBrun but again, no final decision on this, although certainly league got the GMs stated feedback on it
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) March 8, 2017
So, good job NHL on televising the reveal. For sure change your mind on the protection lists though, and also let’s try and put the reveal on TV somewhere people will actually watch it, and by that I mean not NHL Network.
PhiSig 150
I love the idea of going to T-Mobile for the expansion draft/ jersey reveal. I guess my question is in this day and age will they really be able to keep the names of the players selected a secret? I can see the names coming out somewhere online the night before. I also could see the jerseys leaking beforehand but then again they did do a good job at keeping the (horrendous) name under wraps. Do you think the trades made for picks will be announced that day as well? Also do you anticipate jerseys will be available for purchase that day or will we have to continue to wait until sometime around 2019?
Ken Boehlke
I do not expect jerseys to be available for sale that day. As for trades, I honestly don’t know how they’ll handle that. Hopefully they very forthcoming about it all. This is entertainment, let us be entertained.
Phisig150
When do you expect jerseys to go on sale?
Will they be able to keep the names selected under wraps until the faux draft night?
Will there be a Sin Bin meet up for the expansion draft?
Ken Boehlke
I’d expect them sometime in August or early September. Would be a pretty smart move to open selling them the day the practice facility opens, but you know what they think of my ideas.
I think you’ll have an idea of some of the players until the reveal show (think it’ll be more afternoon than night). But I definitely think there will be enough unknowns to make it a super fun experience.
Absolutely. The plan is to meet up about 2 hours before the event. I have a super cool product I’m hoping everyone buys that day and wears to the unveil.
PhiSig 150
Would have been a smarter move to have them available for the drafts. Expansion draft is going to be televised and he’s expecting a mass capacity crowd. I’m assuming they’ll also have a camera at T-mobile for the entry draft to cut to for crowd shots after we make a selection. Would have been cool to see a full arena wearing jerseys. Not sure why jerseys going on sale for the opening of a practice facility in Summerlin is such a great move. So yes I’ll absolutely wear whatever you’re working on for Sin Bin (although I would have rather had a Knights jersey). I would like to see a simple black t shirt and a hooded sweatshirt with the Sin Bin logo. Maybe a non trucker hat as well (curved bill please).
Ken Boehlke
The decision not to sell isn’t on the team, it’s on Adidas. Foley wants them out there as soon as possible and he’ll do everything he can to do so, but every time I’ve heard him speak about it he has a tone of “it’s out of my hands, and it sucks.”
As for SinBin gear, it’ll be something you’ll wear in addition to the jersey. The idea is for everyone who likes the site to wear them to every event.
PhiSig 150
Not saying it’s Foley’s fault we don’t have jerseys yet. I actually don’t even care who’s fault it is. We should have had jerseys in time for last Christmas and absolutely should have had jerseys in time to wear for the drafts. Maybe whoever is in charge of this release will be kind enough to allow us to purchase one in time for the All Star game next year. Or is that asking too much?
Slack
I kinda get the reason why, but too bad the NHL has decided at this point to not release the other team’s protected list to the public. Makes the play along at home version much less fun.
James
@Ken Boehlke
How can we fairly judge George McPhee if the league doesn’t make the protection lists public during the Expansion Draft? This is worth making a stink over.
Ken Boehlke
Oh believe me, it needs to be made public. There’s no doubt they need to reconsider this. It’s been met with pretty much nothing but negativity, so hopefully the GMs don’t win on this one.
James
@Ken Boehlke
Darren Dreger is confident the entire list will leak out within 48 hours. The NHL might as well make the protection lists public.
Ken Boehlke
That’s kind of what I was thinking. We are going to find them anyway, why not control it yourself so you get the clicks rather than Dreger?