Vegas Golden Knights will be impacted by new-look 2020 NHL Entry Draft

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A detailed view of the Top 31 draft picks on the video board after the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 21, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. /

Due to the current health crisis enveloping the world, the Vegas Golden Knights and the rest of the hockey world are having to adjust to a new normal.

That new normal for the Vegas Golden Knights includes no hockey and also the potential of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and other major events on the NHL calendar taking on different forms.

For instance, the 2020 NHL Entry Draft will take on a whole new look this year and it will present teams with a whole new set of logistical challenges.

Originally set to be hosted in Montreal, the Draft has been postponed along with the 2020 NHL Scouting Combine and the 2020 NHL Awards in Las Vegas.

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The league has yet to announce new dates for those three events, but it is feasible to predict that the Draft in particular will now be done via technology.

This of course coughs up a variety of obstacles for league officials, scouts, teams and Draft hopefuls, but this is all part of now living in a sporting world post-coronavirus.

Granted, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has to make a decision on the remainder of the season before committing to concrete plans about the Draft.

There has been talk about abandoning the remainder of the regular season and diving into the postseason, although several high-profile players have expressed their concerns at doing so during the NHL’s daily Conference Calls.

One option that has been explored has been expanding the playoff field to 24 teams, which would allow those teams currently on the playoff bubble a chance to compete in the postseason.

Cancelling the rest of the regular season will have a significant impact on draft positioning and the Draft Lottery, however, and those huge question marks plays into the uncertainty surrounding this year’s Draft for teams and for prospects.

Jake Sanderson of the U.S. Nationals follows the play against the Slovakia Nationals during game two of day one of the 2018 Under-17 Four Nations Tournament game at USA Hockey Arena on December 11, 2018 in Plymouth, Michigan. /

Vegas and the 2020 Draft

The Vegas Golden Knights have accumulated a rich pool of talent despite the fact that they are a third-year expansion team.

What makes their current pipeline even more impressive is the fact that they have mortgaged a lot of their future in order to win now, sending high-end prospects Nick Suzuki and Erik Brannstrom to the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators respectively as part of the blockbuster trades that brought Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone to Sin City.

Of course, after going big-game hunting for a couple of years in the pursuit of the Stanley Cup, coupled with their now yearly battle with the salary cap, the 2020 NHL Entry Draft was going to be an important one.

Now, in a post-coronavirus world, it has taken on even more significance.

Because, with the salary cap for 2020-21 set to be frozen at $81.5 million, the Golden Knights won’t have much cap space in order to fill certain holes on the roster.

As a result, they will need to lean more and more on their farm system in the coming years with the majority of their cap locked up in a core that has been built to win now.

With depth a huge problem this year, the Golden Knights now have the opportunity to add some impact players while addressing their long-term future at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

These are the picks the Golden Knights will have at their disposal barring any trades between now and then or on the night:

2020 First Round Pick x1
2020 Third Round Pick x2
2020 Six Round Pick x1
2020 Seven Round Pick x1

Peyton Krebs reacts after being selected seventeenth overall by the Vegas Golden Knights during the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 21, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. /

Now, according to Vegas Golden Knights Prospects expert Jack Manning, the Knights are projected to pick somewhere between 21st and 31st in the First Round.

Given how the Draft works, there is every chance that the Golden Knights could unearth an unpolished gem late in the First Round who could be on the cusp of making a potential impact.

For the Golden Knights, who boast some high-end offensive talent in Peyton Krebs, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Morozov, along with Cody Glass and Lucas Elvenes, the temptation could be to add a high-end defenseman in the First Round.

Jake Sanderson, who is currently attracting a lot of Draft buzz, is projected to go with the 22nd overall pick in the latest rankings by HockeyProspect.com.

Sanderson is a 6’1″ 185 lbs left-shot blueliner who boasts elite skating ability and high-end puck-handling skills, while the Golden Knights could also look to take their goalie of the future by drafting highly-rated Russian goalie Artur Akhtyamov who has a 1.80 Goals Against Average and a .931 Save Percentage in 46 games in the MHL with Irbis Kazan this year.

Although it is worth keeping in mind that Sanderson is turning a lot of heads and could easily end up going inside the top 10.

Alexis Lafreniere of Team White and Quinton Byfield of Team Red following the final whistle of the 2020 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game at FirstOntario Centre on January 16, 2020 in Hamilton, Canada /

Question Marks

The biggest difference and also the biggest problem for the Vegas Golden Knights at this year’s draft will now be the unknown.

Because, while their scouting team has been hard at work for months and even years when studying this year’s crop of prospects, the coronavirus crisis has made their job ten times harder.

For instance, a bevy of events that play a crucial role in determining final rankings and for teams to make their final decisions on players they like on their draft board were all cancelled.

The CHL Playoffs and the NCAA Tournament to the IIHF Under 18 World Championship all fell victim to COVID-19, meaning that scouts will now have their work cut out for them.

While most of the top 10, including projected First overall pick Alexis Lafrenière and bluechip center Quinton Byfield will be home run picks for some lucky teams, this year’s draft will be a battle of who has done the more detailed homework.

As a result, teams may be less inclined to make a gamble in the later rounds due to the fact that they will now have less information to arm themselves with due to COVID-19.

European prospects in particular will be more of a wildcard due to the IIHF Under-18 World Championships being postponed, and that could be reflected in the 2020 Draft.

So, how does this impact the Vegas Golden Knights?

Well, the NHL Entry Draft is already a gamble in the later rounds and Vegas will be doing most of their work in the deeper stages of the Draft.

Even their First Round pick will be at the end of the round and it promises to be more of a crapshoot this year outside of the top-15 picks.

Therefore, Golden Knights General Manager Kelly McCrimmon and the rest of the front office may decide to play it safe with the sure thing, as opposed to picking prospects with higher ceilings but more question marks.

We could also see some risks being taken in Rounds six & seven as the Golden Knights and other teams try to pluck a diamond from the rough with very limited information to hand by that point.

Vegas’ scouting team will now need to really hit the tape ahead of the Draft, ensuring that they have every single base covered now that they have had a large chunk of their information-gathering process snatched away from them.

Next. Breaking down 2020-21 salary cap scenarios. dark

It is far from ideal but these are the times we now live in and the Vegas Golden Knights will need to hope that their scouting team have extensively done their homework and can unearth some unpolished gems in the later rounds without needing the knowledge that attending late-season events would normally harvest.

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