(WXYZ) — Steve Yzerman doesn't want to rush the NHL Draft onto the league's schedule.
The Red Wings owned the best odds to land the top spot in the lottery, but so much surrounding the league and its draft has changed.
"I haven’t really heard a good reason why we should do it prior to the end of the season," Yzerman said on Wednesday in a Facebook Live conversation on Fox Sports Detroit.
The lottery was scheduled for April 9, and the Draft was scheduled for June 26-27 in Montreal. Both events were postponed.
There was talk last week from some general managers that a virtual draft similar to the NFL's could be held before games resumed, and possibly before the playoffs started.
“My thought is, 'Why would you do that? Why would you need to do that?' There’s a lot of things that are affected, obviously. The Draft position hasn’t been established, we don’t know who’s in the playoffs, or who’s out of the playoffs, in some cases. So if there’s a lot of questions, and ultimately if it needs to be done prior to, we’ll figure it out," he added.
Yzerman talked at length in the video about the 1997 Stanley Cup Final. FSD aired the clincher on Wednesday.
Watch the full conversation below:
