SportsNet

The scouting season for the 2022 NHL draft has come to a close. And what a ride it’s been. Stops and starts, players spread out all over the world and the conflict in Ukraine are just a few of the challenges scouts have had to navigate during the 2021-22 season. The wonkiness of the NHL season forced all draft related items to be scheduled differently. The draft lottery, the NHL Combine and the draft itself have all been a little less than normal in timing and in content. Based on how things look today, the 2023 scouting season will be as close to normal as we’ve seen in the past three years. Of course we will finish the 2022 world juniors in August, and that should feature prominently into the start of the next scouting season as it follows the Hlinka-Gretzky tournament, which is the crown jewel of all events.