NHL fans want to throw Draft House idea all the way in the garbage

The 2025 NHL Draft got underway on Friday night with teams selecting highly-rated prospects in the first round. 32 names were called, including OHL defenseman Matthew Schaefer who was picked first overall by the New York Islanders.

While each player got to revel in their big moment at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, fans at home found one aspect of the ceremony cringey and just plain awkward.

After hearing their names called, each draftee walked up on stage to greet NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and take a photograph with their new team's sweater. After that, they walked stage right to an alcove revealed behind a moveable wall called the "NHL Draft House." A giant LED screen projected a live feed from the war room of the team that just drafted them with the general manager and staff introducing themselves to the prospect.

The exchanges were mostly monotone and boring, filled with player speak and uninteresting pleasantries rather than a genuine and emotional reaction from each party. Fans online made their displeasures known and roasted the league for this flop of a decision.

Why are NHL teams not at the draft?

The 2025 NHL Draft is just the third to be what's called "decentralized." That means teams are not required to all be present in the same shared space to make selections or negotiate trades.

Prior to 1980, the draft was held in Montreal and it was not open to the public. Since 1985, however, the league has turned it into a traveling spectacle.

“We’ve decentralized, so therefore we are going back to what the NBA is doing, what the NFL is doing,” NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer said. “So, how do we make our draft different from what they’re doing? I think that’s one of the key pieces that will be unique and something that a sports fan has never seen. And the beauty is that every team is different. It's the way to get all these great hockey personnel that are all over the League into the show.”

This is the first time teams actually voted to be remote, however. The previous two instances of a decentralized draft were held in 2020 and 2021 due to safety restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Some people like it; some people don’t,” Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille told NHL.com. “I put a lot of value on what scouts do in the season and the traveling and so forth, so the less distraction you have when you’re in the room when it’s time to make a decision that can impact a franchise for 10-plus years, I think it's very important. Is the show itself, being on the floor and talking to everyone fun? Yes. But at the end of the day, that draft every year could make or break a franchise.”

Teams may be less distracted and able to focus better on their selections in familiar environments but the league seemed to have sacrificed entertainment value for convenience to appease individual front offices.