What time is the NHL Draft?

The 2023 NHL Draft presented by Upper Deck will be held on June 28 and 29 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round takes place on June 28 at 7 p.m. eastern on ESPN while Rounds 2-7 will be on June 29 at 11 a.m. eastern on NHL Network.

The Washington Capitals will pick at eighth in the first round unless they trade up. Whenever they’re on the clock the strategy of Brian MacLellan and Ross Mahoney hasn’t changed. They will draft the best player available.

But at the same time there’s going to be a really good player available as this will be the Caps highest first round pick since taking Karl Alzner in 2007.

Here’s more on the Caps draft situation from Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com:

"Washington failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2013-14 after qualifying for eight straight seasons. Laviolette’s three-year contract that expired June 30 wasn’t renewed after the Capitals finished 12 points behind the Florida Panthers for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Injuries were a major factor with forwards Nicklas Backstrom (hip resurfacing surgery), Tom Wilson (ACL surgery) and defenseman John Carlson (skull fracture, severed temporal artery) all out for significant chunks of the season. The Capitals made 22 picks the past four years, and centers Connor McMichael (2019, No. 25) and Hendrix Lapierre (2020, No. 22), left wing Ivan Miroshnichenko (2022, No. 20) and defensemen Ryan Chesley (2022, No. 37) and Vincent Iorio (2021, No. 55) are considered the best prospects. The Capitals will pick in the top 10 for the first time since 2007, when they chose defenseman Karl Alzner at No. 5."

The Caps need to draft a left wing, right wing or center. Basically a forward. There will be a ton of good options at number eight and even more if they decide to trade up.

Once again Round 1 is Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.