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Vancouver appears set to host the 2019 NHL Entry Draft

The 2019 NHL Entry Draft appears to be coming to town

 Canucks GM Jim Benning is always on the hot seat, but next year could see the temperature dialled up in the event that the NHL Entry Draft comes to town. Photo Dan ToulgoetCanucks GM Jim Benning. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The buzz amongst hockey insiders Tuesday afternoon seems to suggest Vancouver will play host to the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

The Canucks have called a press conference for 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and rumours circling the Twitterverse suggest everyone’s favourite villain — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman — will be in attendance.

While the 2018 draft is expected to be an off-year, scouts and journalists alike are pointing to the 2019 class as being far deeper than the picks who will be chosen this summer in Dallas.

The club hosted the event twice previously in 2006 and 1990.

Should that announcement materialize, 2019 will be a red-letter year for hockey events in Vancouver that have nothing to do with the Canucks.

The IIHF Under-20 World Junior Championships will be hosted in Victoria and Vancouver, and the expectation there is that medal round games will likely be played in Vancouver.

Read more from the Vancouver Courier