Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan took an unsurprising stance when asked about a reportedly proposed draft lottery tournament if the 2019-20 season is officially canceled.

"I'm not a fan of it. Not one bit," McLellan said Monday, according to The Athletic's Lisa Dillman.

Last week, one team executive suggested the league could hold a tournament in which lottery teams would compete for the top selection if the season is lost, according to The Athletic's Craig Custance.

But McLellan's Kings are near the bottom of the standings (28th), so it's easy to see why the bench boss has an issue with the idea.

"For me, it's a little counterintuitive to do it that way," McLellan said, according to the Los Angeles Times' Jack Harris.

With the season currently on pause, the Kings would hold 9.5% odds to land the No. 1 selection under the traditional lottery format.

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The Edmonton Oilers have told defenseman Philip Broberg they want him to stay in Sweden next season rather than make the leap to North America, according to The Edmonton Sun's Jim Matheson.

The Oilers selected Broberg with the eighth overall pick in the 2019 draft. He played this season with Skelleftea AIK in the Swedish Hockey League.

"Obviously when you take a player eighth in the draft and he’s a defenseman you want some offense, but Philip was an 18-year-old playing in a men’s league this season,” Oilers general manager Ken Holland said. "We feel he’s in a good place at Skelleftea, Philip was happy this year and we’d like to see him on more specialty teams next season."

Broberg recorded just one goal and seven assists in 45 contests while averaging approximately 14 minutes of ice time per game in his first season with the Swedish club.

Holland believes Broberg's lack of production so far has been due to his role. Turning 19 in June, Broberg mainly served as one of his team's bottom-pairing defensemen. Holland also pointed to a similar situation at the world junior championship but is hoping to see more from him at next year's tournament that will take place in Alberta.

Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom took a similar path after being drafted 19th overall in 2011. Klefbom spent two seasons in the same Swedish league before coming over to join the Oilers' organization as a 20-year-old.

Holland added he's not in a huge rush to get Broberg into his team's lineup, and is willing to wait for him to develop adequately.

"We’re hoping Broberg can be a (NHL) player at 22 years of age. We hope he’s an impact player," Holland said. "To me that means top-four defenseman, No. 1 goalie, or one of the top seven or eight forwards. That’s what impact means to me."

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While major professional sports are on hiatus, theScore's writers are exploring what they'd do if this pause allowed for changes to the rules and structures of various leagues. After tackling Major League Baseball in Part 1, the National Hockey League is up next.

Reimagine the draft

The current draft lottery system is flawed. Since lottery odds are determined by inverse order of regular-season standings, teams eliminated from playoff contention early (Detroit this year and Ottawa last year) have no incentive to win games down the stretch. This produces an influx of AHL and junior call-ups, too much crease time for backup goalies, and other measures designed to curtail on-ice success. Realistically, can you blame these clubs? Finishing dead last in the NHL gives a team an 18.5% chance of obtaining the first overall pick. Finishing 25th earns a 6.5% chance. The wrong crowd is being rewarded.

But what if the draft order was determined by points collected after elimination from playoff contention, as it would be under the so-called "Gold Plan" first introduced in 2012 at the Sloan Analytics Conference? Teams would have to keep trying to win after being eliminated from the playoff race in order to claim the No. 1 pick. Under those terms, all 82 games for all 31 teams matter. Now, a potential obstacle for this proposal is education. The lottery is already a convoluted exercise, an event that can be hard for casual fans to wrap their heads around. Effective communication would be paramount here.

As for the draft itself, I have a solution to the periodic debate around first-year eligibility rules. What if the NHL introduced a hybrid draft, in which the opening five rounds are reserved for 18-year-old players and the final two rounds are reserved for players aged 19 or 20? The current rules - players must be 18 years old by Sept. 15 of the draft year and under 20 years old by Dec. 31 in order to be eligible - seem perfectly fine, but over the years, many within the hockey world, including NHL general managers, have suggested that raising the entry age to 19 would be better for the sport.

Advocates of the higher draft age argue most players could use more time for mental, physical, and emotional development, while teams could benefit from an extra season of evaluation. In this hybrid iteration, early and late bloomers get their respective dues and, over time, scouts would probably strike out less frequently at the draft table.

Clean up officiating

The NHL routinely touts its referees and linesmen as the best in the world. I'm not here to make a case against that claim; officials' jobs are incredibly difficult and, on aggregate, I believe they get far more calls correct than incorrect. But one area in which the league could improve is transparency. Aside from occasional reports about certain officials losing out on playoff assignments because of poor performance, there's no external accountability for refs and linesmen. Mistakes are made, fans and media go nuts, and there are no explanations or repercussions.

Why can't a member of the crew speak to a pool reporter postgame to provide the officials' side of the story? Maybe fans would learn something new about the rulebook, or about how hard it is for a human being to be mistake-free on the job. Maybe we'd start accepting the fact that officials are people too, and collectively give them a break every once in a while. The current protocol - virtually no transparency for missed or blown calls except after extreme circumstances in the postseason - creates a barrier between officials and many of the game's other stakeholders, most notably fans.

While we're on the topic of officials, why is it that only members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association vote on the recipient of the Lady Byng Trophy? Don't those at ice level, such as refs and linesmen, have infinitely better intel on players' gentlemanly conduct? Including them in the voting block for that award would also help bridge the gap between officials and fans. Just a thought from a PHWA member.

Another officiating issue can be traced to the rafters of every NHL arena. It's been proven time and again that off-ice record-keepers - part-time officials who track shots, faceoffs, takeaways, giveaways, hits, etc. from the press box - don't log game events in a uniform manner. On the surface, this may seem an inconsequential issue, but standings points, award cases, and career legacies are all ultimately determined by these results.

Consider the Vezina Trophy. How much of that award's narrative revolves around a statistic like save percentage? If an off-ice worker in one particular arena is a generous shot-counter, the resident team's goalies will have save percentages that look much better than they should over the course of a full season. It's possible the long-awaited arrival of player and puck tracking will solve this recording glitch. That would be fantastic. Accurate stats are important. Until then, though, these snafus should be addressed in some way. Maybe the NHL could hire a team of auditors to fact-check and correct inconsistencies?

Widen the ice surface

Admittedly, this proposal is both unoriginal (see: Mark Messier's plea way back in 1987) and a hard sell - hence its position further down this list of ideas. It's true that players are bigger, faster, and stronger than when the game was first conceived. Advances in equipment have helped raise the speed of play to a previously unimaginable caliber, while the introduction of the four-official system in the late 1990s added an extra body to an already-crowded playing surface. Yet the NHL's ice surfaces have remained roughly 200 feet long and 85 feet wide.

I truly believe widening the rink by 10 feet would decrease the number of unintended collisions - which would hopefully limit concussions - and increase the level of creativity - which would hopefully promote scoring. You might say, "Well, scoring is already up and the game is in great shape, thank you very much. Leave it be." To that, I'd say, "You're totally right, but short-term pain could make the game even better in the long run." It's time to modernize ice surfaces around the league.

Of course, one gigantic obstacle for this proposal is money. The cost of such rink renovations would be tough to swallow, while the revenue lost in removing a row or two of premium seating makes for a difficult pitch to owners.

Low-hanging fruit

Now for some quick hits:

• Switch to a 3-2-1 point system, wherein a regulation win is worth three points, an overtime/shootout win is worth two, and an OT/shootout loss is worth one. As any hockey fan knows, the current point-allocation system creates false parity within the standings.

• Extend 3-on-3 overtime beyond five minutes. Whether a seven-minute extra session or a 10-minute one, a move to minimize the number of shootouts per season would be better for everyone. The NHL hit a home run with the 3-on-3 format in 2015. Five years later, it simply needs a minor tweak.

• Shorthanded teams shouldn't be allowed to ice the puck without consequence. It's never made much sense that a team killing a penalty - i.e. a team in the wrong - should get a free pass on icings. To keep the game moving at a reasonable pace, a shorthanded team should be assessed a minor penalty if it ices the puck three times during a single penalty kill.

• Give us more injury information, please. With fantasy leagues and betting taking on larger roles in society and sports, eliminating the "upper-body" and "lower-body" classifications could help better engage both casual and hardcore fans.

John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer.

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The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the player deemed to be most valuable during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. A total of 47 different men have earned the award since its introduction in 1965, while netminder Patrick Roy has received the honor a record three times and became the youngest winner ever in 1986.

With the 2019-20 NHL season currently suspended, we're ranking every Conn Smythe performance from the last decade and including a signature moment for each recipient.

10. Sidney Crosby, Penguins (2015-16)

You could argue that Phil Kessel should have claimed the Conn Smythe in the Penguins' first of back-to-back Cup runs. But while he tallied more goals and points than Crosby did, the captain's leadership and ability to perform in the clutch proved vital throughout the playoffs

Thanks to Crosby's heroics, the Penguins narrowly escaped a grueling seven-game Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning. All three of No. 87's game-winning goals that postseason came in this series, highlighted by a beautiful solo effort on the road in a must-win Game 6.

9. Patrick Kane, Blackhawks (2012-13)

Kane's Conn Smythe Trophy season was ironically the least productive of his three Stanley Cup runs. But on a strange and unlikely path to the title - which saw grinder Bryan Bickell rank second on the Blackhawks in scoring - Chicago needed a hero, and Kane was up to the task.

The electric winger contributed five points in six games during the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins, including a pair of tallies in the crucial Game 5.

However, Kane's signature moment came one round earlier in Game 5 against the Los Angeles Kings. With two goals already in the contest and the Blackhawks one win away from advancing, "Show Time" delivered the heartbreaker in double overtime to complete the hat trick and seal the series.

8. Justin Williams, Kings (2013-14)

On a Kings team loaded with talent, Williams reigned supreme throughout the 2014 playoffs. He delivered at least five points in each round and played a significant role in helping the Kings erase a 3-0 series deficit against the San Jose Sharks with a pair of two-goal games.

"Mr. Game 7" also lived up to his moniker in the deciding contest of the Western Conference Final against the defending champion Blackhawks, scoring in the first period and dishing out the game-winning assist on Alec Martinez's overtime clincher.

Next, Williams' signature moment came when Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers went into extra time.

7. Ryan O'Reilly, Blues (2018-19)

O'Reilly capped his Selke Trophy-winning regular season with a Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup to complete one of the greatest individual campaigns in St. Louis Blues history.

The 6-foot-1 pivot was an absolute menace throughout the postseason, sharing the league lead in points and pacing all Blues forwards in average ice time.

O'Reilly's final act was one for the books, as the Ontario native scored goals in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final contests - a feat that hadn't been accomplished since Wayne Gretzky in 1985. He netted five goals during that stretch, with the final tally breaking the deadlock in Game 7.

6. Sidney Crosby, Penguins (2016-17)

"Sid the Kid" was sensational in the Penguins' second straight Stanley Cup run, leading all players in assists while ranking second in points and first among Pittsburgh forwards in average ice time.

Crosby caused headaches for every opponent, tallying at least six points in each series, including seven in five games against the rival Washington Capitals during Round 2 (he played just 2:11 in Game 3 before exiting with an injury).

It also didn't take long for Crosby to make an impact in the matchup with the Capitals. In a scoreless Game 1, he buried a pair of goals just 52 seconds apart to spark Pittsburgh's third consecutive series win over Washington in the Crosby-Ovechkin era.

5. Alex Ovechkin, Capitals (2017-18)

After a decade of heartbreak, Ovechkin wouldn't let the Capitals be denied in the 2018 postseason. The "Great 8" notched a playoff-leading 15 goals during his journey to hockey's summit - the highest total by a Conn Smythe recipient since Joe Sakic buried 18 in 1996.

Ovechkin, who recorded a point in every game of the final round against the Vegas Golden Knights, became the second Russian-born player to be named playoff MVP.

And though he found the net in the title-clinching contest against Vegas, Ovechkin's most important tally came in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. The Capitals captain fired home his patented one-timer just 1:02 into the game, setting the stage for a 4-0 win over the top-seeded Lightning.

4. Duncan Keith, Blackhawks (2014-15)

Keith redefined what it means to leave it all on the ice during his legendary Conn Smythe run. The tireless blue-liner became one of four players in the last 20 years to log at least 700 postseason minutes, playing more than 40 on three occasions. His most impressive outing came in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final, where he logged 49:51 in a triple-overtime victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

The two-time Norris Trophy winner also played a pivotal role offensively. Keith's 21 points tied Chris Chelios for the most by a Blackhawks defenseman in a single playoff run. Plus, all three of his goals were game-winners, with the final tally serving as the Stanley Cup clincher in Game 6 against the Lightning.

3. Tim Thomas, Bruins (2010-11)

Thomas stifled his opponents for two straight months to become the 15th goaltender in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. He remains the oldest player to earn the honor, doing so at 37 years old.

The puck-stopper was incredibly clutch, collecting shutouts in Game 7 of both the Eastern Conference Final and the Stanley Cup Final. In the championship round against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks, Thomas allowed only eight goals in seven games.

His most memorable moment wasn't stopping the puck, however. Known for an unorthodox playing style and a short temper, Thomas cemented his place in the hearts of Bruins fans by flattening Canucks captain Henrik Sedin during Game 3 of the Cup Final.

2. Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks (2009-10)

At just 22 years and 41 days, Toews became the second-youngest player - and the youngest skater - in history to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy en route to his first of three Stanley Cups.

Toews' 29 playoff points tied a franchise best for a single postseason and ranked second among all players that year. The Blackhawks captain rode an incredible 13-game point streak into the Stanley Cup Final, where he added three more assists against the Philadelphia Flyers.

His defining moment came two rounds earlier. Toews torched the Canucks with a hat trick and five points on the road in Game 4 to give Chicago a 3-1 series lead. The Blackhawks eventually won that matchup in six games.

1. Jonathan Quick, Kings (2011-12)

Quick's 2012 Conn Smythe run is simply unmatched. The 6-foot-1 netminder set modern-day playoff records with his sparkling 1.41 goals-against average and .946 save percentage, leading the eighth-seeded Kings on their Cinderella Stanley Cup run.

To break down his historic journey, consider the following: Quick allowed one or zero goals in half of his 20 postseason starts and never gave up more than three, conceding that number just twice. In the opening round against the league-best Canucks, Quick surrendered eight tallies through five games and recorded 40-plus saves in multiple appearances to help L.A. pull off the upset.

Relive Quick's monumental run through some of his highlights and the reactions of his teammates and coaches:

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St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong doesn't think the NHL's hiatus will impact his club's ability to defend its Stanley Cup title should the 2019-20 season resume.

"With the knowledge of what we did last year, and that we have a mature team, we're not worried about whether they're preparing or what they're doing off the ice, eating correctly and doing whatever workouts they need to be doing; I know they are because they've shown that year in and year out," Armstrong told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

"We feel excited that if we get the opportunity again that we'll be in a very good spot to put our very best foot forward."

The Blues continued their elite play this season and occupy the top seed in the Western Conference with the campaign on pause. The core group that brought the franchise its first Stanley Cup remains intact and star winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who missed most of this season following shoulder surgery in October, should also be back in the fold.

"You need to plan that you're going to play again," Armstrong said. "And we are planning that we're going to play again. We're very fortunate that we have a mature group, and the majority of our team is coming back that was here last year at this time. They did a really good job of putting themselves in a good spot throughout the regular season."

St. Louis pulled off one of the most incredible runs in NHL history in 2018-19. After sitting last in the league on Jan. 1, the Blues went on a 30-10-5 run that propelled them into the postseason and eventually to the Stanley Cup.

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Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry and his wife, Julie, opened up $2,500 tabs at two local restaurants to provide free meals to hospital workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Anything we can do to show our appreciation," the family said, according to the team's website. "To show that we're thinking of them, standing behind them, supporting them and that they're in our thoughts and prayers."

Dozens of professional athletes have stepped up to help those in need while their respective leagues are on hiatus. Canadiens teammate Carey Price and his wife, Angela, recently donated $50,000 to the Breakfast Club of Canada's emergency fund to help children at risk of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Petry has 40 points in 71 games in his sixth season with Montreal.

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