from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

Authored by Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, the memo argues that, “Quite frankly, whatever we decide to do, there is no way, under these most unusual circumstances, for us to maintain the ‘status quo.’”

Among the NHL’s arguments:

If the draft is not moved up, the best-case scenario would see the Stanley Cup awarded in early- to mid-September at the earliest. That would leave a short window for the lottery and the draft before moving on to all other necessary league business before the 2020–21 season begins, which we now know could be December.

Also mentioned is a worst-case scenario, where “we will be forced to make the difficult decision of cancelling the remainder of the 2019–20 season. In that case, and again in the absence of an early Draft, we would be faced with having to schedule a Draft Lottery and stage a Draft at some uncertain time prior to resuming play for the 2020–21 season. In this scenario, the same concerns that some Clubs have expressed about determining Lottery eligibility and overall Draft order, as well as the issue of having to resolve undetermined conditional provisions in trades, would still need to be addressed.”

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