There isn’t one single way that teams are approaching the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Though the 2019-20 season was mostly complete when it was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, the year since then has seen juniors leagues with varying levels of success in putting up some sort of 2021 season — all of which is to say that while last year’s draft was affected, there was still a significant amount of the season to learn from that isn’t necessarily true coming into the 2021 draft.
Travel restrictions have also made scouting more difficult, but on the flip side, video access has become more widely available.