Montreal to host 2020 NHL Draft

The 2020 NHL Entry Draft will be held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the league announced Wednesday.

It will mark the 27th time that the city has hosted the event and the first since 2009.

Montreal was the original host city of the draft from 1963-84. Locations included various downtown hotels, the Montreal league office, and eventually the Montreal Forum.

"To think that the NHL draft started in 1963 as a small gathering at a hotel ballroom in Montreal, makes it all the more exciting to announce that the 2020 edition of the draft is coming back ... in a far grander fashion," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

The 2019 NHL Draft is set for Friday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.