NHL exploring possibility of raising draft age to 19

As the NHL is set to celebrate its centennial season in 2016-2017, there's an initiative to explore ways to improve the game in many aspects, including the possibility of increasing the draft age to 19.

"We're exploring many ideas in improving conditions for player development, and raising the draft age is one of many things that we're looking at, and those discussions remain very preliminary," said former NHL player and Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine, who now works for the league in development.

The current draft age is 18. There has been an influx of talented players to make their NHL debuts at that age, and many of those players do not want to see it changed. Current Edmonton Oilers…