Count Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman among those who are against the NHL holding its entry draft before the season is concluded.

"Obviously the draft has never taken place prior to the end of a Stanley Cup or the end of a season," Yzerman said Wednesday during a Facebook Live with Fox Sports Detroit.

"My thought is: Why would you do that? Why would you need to do that?" Yzerman said. "There's a lot of things that are affected, obviously. The draft position hasn't been established; we don't know who's in the playoffs, who's out of the playoffs, in some cases.

"So there's a lot of questions, and ultimately if it needs to be done prior to, we'll figure it out. But at this time, my own opinion is, I haven't heard a good reason why we should do it prior to the end of the season if we do conclude the season over the course of the summer."

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed last week that the league is considering holding its draft in June, before a conclusion to the 2019-20 season is reached. The draft was initially scheduled to be held in Montreal from June 26-27, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Daly told Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun that a June draft would likely use points percentage to determine the selection order, which would keep the top 11 odds in the lottery unchanged from the standings on the day the league paused on March 12. Based on last year's lottery odds, Yzerman's Red Wings would own the top odds with an 18.5 per cent chance of picking No. 1, followed by the Ottawa Senators with their own pick at 13.5 per cent and then again at 11.5 per cent with the pick they acquired from the San Jose Sharks as part of the Erik Karlsson trade.

TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Frank Seravalli explored the difficulties of holding the draft before the season ends last week, including what to do with conditional picks and whether trades involving active players would be allowed.