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.
