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NHL general managers and executives will be paying close attention to the NFL's first-ever virtual draft on Thursday, as they could be following suit in a few months.

"It's going to be really interesting," Flames general manager Brad Treliving told The Canadian Press. "I know the NHL is watching what they're doing closely. We may be following their lead."

"Certainly our draft is going to be remote, that would be safe to say," Treliving continued. "For sure I'm going to be watching (the NFL draft) and doing a lot of homework on not only that, but different ideas of how we could potentially do our draft."

The NFL's draft will be held virtually due to coronavirus-related restrictions on mass gatherings. Teams recently went through a trial run, and despite some technical glitches at the start, the overall success of the proceedings satisfied GMs.

The NHL draft, originally scheduled for June 26-27 in Montreal, was postponed last month. A makeup date and potential new format haven't been determined yet.

Montreal Canadiens assistant general manager Trevor Timmins believes the NFL's execution of a virtual draft will give the NHL a solid example.

"We can learn a lot from that - what works, what doesn't work," Timmons said. "I've been in contact with my NFL contacts discussing how they are preparing with the limitations."

"We should all pay attention," he added.

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