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NHL notebook: Decentralized draft continues next season, Mammoth’s Schmidt compares team to Panthers

July 13, 2025 by The Leafs Nation

Welcome to another NHL Notebook, where we take a look at current events across the league. The summer is finally here, but The Leafs Nation will have content for you throughout the summer.

NHL teams vote to maintain decentralized draft format

Although there was much consternation about the format and how it affected the television product, NHL teams have voted in favour of keeping the decentralized draft. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Thursday that was a vote was being held among teams, but it had not been completed. Multiple outlets have since confirmed that the decentralized format is here to stay through next season.

There was initial support for the decentralized format, with teams in favour of cutting costs, with a renewed focus on the draft itself, rather than the economy and distractions surrounding the event. It may have backfired. Many teams stated after the fact that they wished they could’ve been on the floor to facilitate potential trades, while the event stalled on television, when players held their introductory meetings with their new executives in a live format that didn’t translate well.

Mammoth’s Schmidt sees parallels between current team, champion Panthers 

Nate Schmidt joined the Utah Mammoth on a three-year deal worth $3.5 million annually and believes his new team contains some parallels to the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers. Schmidt won the title with the Panthers last season, rejuvenating his career as a reliable third-pair option, then cashed out during free agency.

“This is actually a team and an organization that have been building for a long time,” Schmidt said via NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest. ‘It kind of, in a lot of ways, mimics Florida and how they went through the draft, had a bunch of guys grow up together, and then start to make noise later as they got on in their careers. And that’s how I see this team. That’s something that kind of excited me. You see that type of trajectory again and see how it worked.”

Schmidt believes the Mammoth are building the right way, after Mikhail Sergachev joined the team in a June 2024 trade, after featuring as a key part of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s two Stanley Cup victories.

“In the last couple of years they’ve added guys like myself and a couple of other guys that have won before, and that type of mentality starts to roll over in my opinion,” Schmidt said. “On the teams that I’ve been on, that’s the type of mentality they have. In my case, I just tasted this thing and I can’t wait for another chance at it again. That’s what you’re going to get out of me and that’s what I’m most excited to bring to this group.”

Utah could be one of the greatest risers of the 2025-26 season, with a clear model to follow entering the fall.

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