LOS ANGELES — When the NHL draft occurs this summer, expect a lot more of Gary Bettman.
On Saturday, the league formally announced that the 2025 NHL draft will take place June 27-28 at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theatre, confirming a report from ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski in December. And Bettman — the NHL’s commissioner since 1993 — will be center stage as he is set to announce each first-round pick for the first time.
“Hopefully there won’t be too many hard [names] to pronounce,” Bettman said before the Los Angeles Kings hosted the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday night.
The draft will be the first for hockey to use the decentralized model that has been standard for the NFL and NBA for decades, with team staffs participating virtually from their home cities. Bettman has been a proponent of the format change.
The commissioner and top prospects will still be in attendance for…
