When is the 2024 NHL Draft?

Every year, teams wait for the NHL Draft Lottery to see if they will get the next generational talent. Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Jack Hughes, and the latest first-overall pick Connor Bedard found their new homes because of the luck of some ping pong balls. The NHL Draft is one of the most anticipated dates on the league calendar.

It's because it's one of the few moments of joy for fans of bad teams. The San Jose Sharks have two wins at the time of this writing (although that win against the Edmonton Oilers was awesome). There won't be many more, but if it ends up with Macklin Celebrini, then fans will deal with the pain. Same goes for Columbus Blue Jackets. Any eligible player born prior to Sep. 15, 2006, can be taken in this draft. So, when is the draft actually happening? Last year, it was the last week of June. Will that be the date again?

When is the 2024 NHL Draft going to happen?

Those dates are up in the air right now. No specific date has been set for the NHL Draft or even the NHL Draft lottery because the entire spectrum of the draft may change. One of the more controversial topics in the NHL this season is the concept of decentralizing the draft. It would remove all the teams from the floor in whichever city the draft is happening and have the teams stay in home bases.

While many other sports, including the NFL, do this, it's gotten a lot of pushback from NHL fans. Some say it would stop some trades from happening because those GMs and team presidents aren't in the same room. However, it seems we see more trades in the NFL on draft day anyway. Others say we'd miss out on the moments for the players themselves, who get to stand on stage with the front office as they present him with his jersey.

We've heard three main reasons for the decentralized draft. One is the reason that's been pretty out there. The draft and free agency are too close together. The draft was June 28 and 29 this year. Free agency began on July 1. That's a pretty busy week for front offices. Think about the Anaheim Ducks, who chose Leo Carlson over Adam Fantilli with the second-overall pick, and made nine total picks, then, two days later they signed Radko Gudas, Alex Killorn, and Trevor Carrick to contracts while letting about a dozen players hit free agency.

The other possible reasons are money (it's expensive to put entire front offices and scouting staffs in a hotel with event prices in place) and possible eavesdropping by scouts walking around the draft. While there are some downfalls, we could always get another "Bill Belichick's dog" moment.

So, until this gets figured out, there's no real date on the calendar set for the draft. There's also no location, which is the real problem. If they want to do another live draft, which has been an incredible experience for the fans, then they have to pinpoint a city. Hopefully, they have one picked internally.

We do know the NHL Draft is happening in June. The start of the new league year is almost always July 1st, so they can't move free agency. It's possible it would happen earlier in June, but it's still likely to happen around the same time. If the draft is on the last Wednesday and Thursday of June, it would give a few days until free agency on Monday, July 1, 2024.