Patrik Allvin has an interesting way of describing the NHL’s entry draft.

“It the same for the players, and it the same for the scouts,” said the Pittsburgh Penguins’ director of amateur scouting. “This is the graduation. This is the thing you really work hard for. This is excitement. Every year, you work hard to the draft.”

There are plenty of parallels between being drafted in the NHL and graduating from school. Each happens in the spring and represents moving on to a new chapter in life.

At least when life isn’t disrupted by pestilence.

The draft, which is typically held on a weekend late June, will be held this week Tuesday and Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic. And instead of being staged in an NHL venue and produced for a television audience, this year’s draft will be orchestrated in a remote fashion with NHL management huddled in a franchise’s offices working with NHL staffers via video conferences.

Usually, draft weekend is a big party of sorts for amateur scouts who typically spend hours driving to small towns in the Western Canadian Rockies or the northeastern coast of Sweden. Instead, they enjoy the luxuries of a major city while seeing a year’s worth of work being realized.

“Unfortunately, we’re going to miss that,” Allvin lamented during a phone interview with the Tribune-Review last week. “I know every single guy on our amateur scouting staff wanted to be involved in the draft. And I’m sure the players, too, it’s sad for them not being on the stage not meeting the team that drafted them right away. Definitely, a little bit of a sad part.”

Beyond the celebratory aspects of scouting, the actual work of the profession has been impacted considerably by the pandemic. While the NHL was able to complete its 2019-20 season with a postseason tournament throughout August and September, virtually every other league on the planet canceled the remainder of their campaigns in March.

Basically, there were no games to scout. That forced Allvin and his peers to do things differently.

“That’s been a challenge for sure,” Allvin said. “From my perspective to our staff, I think its been more about (having) a positive mindset. Take this as an opportunity. What can we learn and how can we operate? And be open-minded. Try to project. What would this player have been if we were able to watch him more months? Obviously, I thought it was important for us to get right back it and watch a lot more (video). We did our due diligence with the players. We used our analytics department, things that they pointed out in terms of numbers. Then we went back and, ‘Okay, can we see what they are talking about and maybe we missed something here.’ I thought it was a great learning process but definitely, it’s been a different challenge.”

Many leagues in Europe as well as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League are just opening their 2020-21 season, albeit with limits on who can see their games in person, including for scouts.

“Obviously there are restrictions over there in Europe, particularly in Finland,” said Allvin, who has been with the Penguins in some capacity since 2006. “ Our scout, Petri Pakaslahti, there has been able to go to games, watching games, watching the World Junior (Championship Tournament) camps since mid-July. So that’s been really good. And obviously, we have access to games on computers. I’ve been able to watch a lot of games.

“Then in Sweden, our scout there, Tommy Westlund, they just opened up so he’s allowed to go to games there. The pro games, where there’s a lot of players playing, they wouldn’t allow any scouts in the building yet but we have access to online (video streams).”

Because of the restrictions, quite a bit scouting for this year’s draft has been done in front of a screen with live or recorded contests.

The differences between scouting with the naked eye or a liquid crystal display are ample.

“We used online in the past watching it on a computer,” Allvin said. “I think it’s good if you kind of know the player a little bit. I think it’s easier. But the challenge, especially on the amateur side, where it’s different feeds and camera angles from the NHL games. So it’s a little bit harder to get the full picture. And you don’t really want to just see just the highlight stuff from a player because most of them look really good in highlights. So I think you’re missing more of the full picture, how they read and react from outside the puck angle.”

This year’s NHL’s scouting combine, scheduled for early June in Buffalo, was canceled. That denied NHL teams an opportunity to test the physical attributes of each prospect while also interviewing them in person.

“We had a missed opportunity to meet players in person, especially the top (members) in management whereas (regional scouts) have been able to meet every single (player) during the season,” Allvin said. “But for myself … it’s always interesting to get a face. And for the strength (coaches), to see where every player (is) in their physical performance too. (This) week, it will definitely be interesting to see how the draft will evolve there with a flat (salary) cap. And with a lack of (in-person analysis), will that change? Will there be a lot of trades?”

How all of those adjustments manifest themselves this week is anyone’s guess. Under normal circumstances, a lot of horse trading goes on in person at the draft, even beyond the selection of prospects. With so many general managers and agents in the same city for a weekend, many informal discussions take place, which can lead to trades or new contracts for established NHL players.

“I think the biggest thing is it takes away from the excitement for the fans and the players that are being drafted,” Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said. “The excitement about being there in person, it’s a very big time a young player’s life to be drafted. To do that in person and see the excitement in person is the biggest thing.

“As for the inter-workings of it for teams, we can make it work this way. A lot of times, even though we could only be 30 feet away from another team’s (draft table) … we may choose to talk on the phone instead of getting up to talk to each other so (media) don’t ask why we’re talking to each other. A lot of things that happen in person and on the floor will still happen.”

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