Watch ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Alex Trebek Announce an NHL Draft Pick

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek made an appearance at the NHL Draft as he announced the third overall pick. The NHL Draft was being held remotely at the team’s sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ottawa Senators were picking at No. 3 in the first round. It was a surprise to many as nobody was expecting the 80-year old host to make an appearance.

In the video, which was shared by the Senators on Twitter, Trebek announced “The NHL” as the topic and went on to announce that German center Tim Stutzle was the team’s pick. It made sense for Trebek to announce the pick since he’s from Ontario, Canada, and went to school at the University of Ottawa.

Trebek is currently battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer. This summer, Trebek talked about who he wants to replace him on Jeopardy! “I joke with the audience, I say Betty White,” he said on Good Morning America. “Because they want somebody younger, somebody funnier. Betty and I have been friends for a long, long time.” With that said, Trebek is not ready to stop being the host just yet. In the same interview, Trebek talked about the safety measures the show is creating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve redesigned our set to separate the contestants and myself a little bit more from them,” he said when talking about updated filming guidelines. “So we are taking all kinds of precautions. Our testing procedure now is done online.” Jeopardy! will film five shows a day for two days a week, which could be an issue for Trebeck due to his treatment for pancreatic cancer. “We’ll do three and take a short break, and then do the last two. And we’ll see how that goes. And if it’s too much for me, we can always cut back a little bit, maybe do four a day,” he added.

Trebek is looking forward to what Stutzle will do when he hits the ice. During the 2019-20 season, Stutzle played in 41 games for Adler Mannheim in Germany and registered 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists). “We are thrilled to welcome Tim to the Senators, to Ottawa and to the National Hockey League,” Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk said in a statement. “Tim’s acquisition represents yet another core piece in our quest to build momentum towards icing a consistent, elite-level team.”