NHL makes terrible decision ahead of 2025-26 season.

The National Hockey League has once again drawn the ire of fans, and it seems that many members of the hockey media aren't thrilled about this little bit of news either.

In a somewhat unusual situation, news is breaking in the middle of July as it pertains to the upcoming 2025-26 NHL season and unfortunately that news has not been well received. It was NHL insider Darren Dreger who was first on the report, with Dreger reporting on Saturday morning that there is a real chance we will be going back to a decentralized draft in 2026.

Reporting on this only because I’m a bit surprised by the outcome. Expect the NHL to give the Decentralized Draft model another try next year. Strong majority of GM’s voted in favour of the new status quo with some potential production tweaks to move the 1st round along.

The NHL attempted the decentralized draft for the first time in 2025 and it was the subject of a ton of backlash from fans and pundits who complained that the magic of the draft had been stripped from the event. It seems however that there is a loud contingent of general managers in the NHL who want to be able to work from their own war rooms rather than gathering in a single location, unfortunately to the detriment of fans around the league.

This is one instance in which NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has actually been on the side of fans, with Bettman making it clear that he was not in favor of the idea to begin with. Unfortunately the vast majority of general managers around the league voted in favor of it so Bettman allowed it go ahead in 2025. Whether or not the commissioner will step in this time around remains to be seen, but so far it looks like we are headed for another decentralized draft.

What do you think of this decision? So far the reaction seems to be universally negative with not even a single fan appearing to be in favor of this idea. Let me know what you think in the comments.