Preparing for next week’s 2020 NHL draft has been an imaginative process for Alan Hepple, the Avalanche’s director of amateur scouting.
Before COVID-19, Hepple and his scouts across the globe attended games, interviewed players and met as a team to prepare a report for Avs general manager Joe Sakic. But since the amateur hockey world shut down in North American and most other countries in March, Zoom calls have dominated the scouting business.
The NHL playoffs were the only hockey being played until recently, and the NCAA and the Canadian Hockey League (major junior) aren’t scheduled to begin the 2020-21 season until next month or beyond.