The NHL Entry Draft is a collective meeting in which the franchises of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available amateur players who meet the eligibility requirements to play professional hockey in the NHL.

History

The first NHL Entry Draft (originally the NHL Amateur Draft) was held on June 5, 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Any amateur player that was 17 years of age and older and was not already sponsored by an NHL club was eligible to be drafted.

In 1969 the rules were changed so that any amateur player under the age of 20 was eligible to be drafted. 84 players (more than four times the average in each of the first six drafts) were selected that year.

In 1979, the name of the Draft was changed from "Amateur" to "Entry" to accommodate a rule change that allowed players who had previously played professionally to be drafted. This rule change was made to facilitate the absorption of players from the now defunct World Hockey Association.

Beginning in 1980 and continuing today, any player who is 18–20 years old is eligible to be drafted. In addition, any non-North American player over the age of 20 can be selected.

Also in 1980, the Entry Draft became a public event. Prior to this year the Entry Draft was conducted in Montreal hotels or League offices and was closed to the general public. The 1980 draft was held in the Montreal Forum and there were more than 2,500 fans in attendance.

In 1985 the first draft outside of Montreal was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario in 1985. The event was attended by 7,000 fans.

Live television coverage of the Draft began in 1984 when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation covered the event in both English and French for Canadian audiences. SportsChannel America began covering the event in the United States in 1989.

C form

The C form was the standard document issued by the National Hockey League to acquire amateur players in the Original Six era. Prior to the Universal Draft of 1969, amateur drafts were for players who were not on a sponsorship list.

The form, which usually led to a professional contract, would be signed by an amateur prospect at age 18 and it was permissible to be renewed only once. The player would usually be a member of a junior team that was affiliated with a National Hockey League franchise.

Misconceptions about the C form

There was a popular view at the time that parents signed very young children's hockey lives over to the teams. This comes from the fact that at the time, most Junior clubs were owned or subsidised by NHL teams, and usually subsidised minor hockey in their areas.

However, a prospect had to be 18 years of age or older to sign a C-Form. Players as young as 14 could be put on a 4-name future negotiation list (as was the case for Bobby Orr in 1962).

Draft order

Draft order in the Entry Draft is determined by a combination of lottery, regular season standing, and playoff results. In all cases, the team considered is the original holder of the draft pick, not a team which may have acquired the pick via a trade or other means.

Draft lottery

At the conclusion of the regular season, the 14 NHL teams not qualifying for the playoffs are entered in a weighted lottery to determine the initial draft picks in each round, seeded according to regular season standing. The 30th-place team has a 25% chance of winning the lottery, with odds diminishing to a 0.5% chance for the 17th-place team. A single selection from the lottery pool is made, with the winning team eligible to improve its draft order by up to four places, and no team eligible to drop more than one place. Only the 26th- through 30th-place teams, then, are eligible to receive the first draft pick. Consequently, the 30th-place team's chance of retaining the first overall pick (as opposed to winning the lottery outright) improves to 48.2%.

Draft order for playoff teams

The remaining draft picks are ordered at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The newly-crowned Stanley Cup champion is awarded the 30th and last pick, and the runner-up the 29th pick. The teams eliminated in the conference finals are awarded the 28th and 27th picks, with the 28th pick going to the team with the better regular season record. Remaining division winners are next ranked starting at the 26th pick, and wild card participants are ranked to fill the balance. In both cases, better records result in later picks.

List of Drafts

1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Draft oddities

In the 1974 entry draft, Buffalo Sabres General Manager Punch Imlach deliberately selected an imaginary Japanese center, Taro Tsujimoto, supposedly of the Tokyo Katanas of the Japanese Ice Hockey League, in the 11th round (183rd overall). Only after weeks had passed did the league discover that Tsujimoto did not in fact exist. Imlach later revealed that he had played the prank because of his frustration with the excessive tedium and length of that year's draft proceedings. Today, the league officially records the 183rd selection of the 1974 entry draft as an "invalid claim".

Likewise, the Florida Panthers attempted to draft Russian hockey phenomenon Alexander Ovechkin in 2003, even though his birthday was two days after the cut-off. The Panther's GM claimed that, with the addition of extra days falling on Leap Year, Ovechkin was actually eligible to be drafted.

Player numbers by league summary

Below is a chart showing where players have been drafted from by year. The leagues represented are the Ontario Hockey League, Western Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, United States Colleges, United States High Schools, International players. Those player listed under Other do not fit any of the other listed categories. International players who were playing for teams in North American leagues are listed in the chart as being drafted from their respective league rather than being listed as international.

Year	OHL	WHL	QMJHL	NCAA	USHS	Int'l	Other
2007	35	27	25	8	15	35	56
2006	29	24	25	22	18	63	35
2005	43	43	23	13	18	50	40
2004	42	44	27	28	18	88	44
2003	44	41	38	23	10	93	43
2002	35	43	23	41	6	110	32
2001	41	45	26	24	8	119	26
2000	39	41	21	35	7	123	27
1999	52	40	20	36	9	94	21
1998	50	44	41	27	7	75	14
1997	52	63	19	26	4	63	19
1996	51	54	31	25	6	58	16
1995	54	55	35	5	2	69	14
1994	45	66	28	6	28	80	33
1993	60	44	23	17	33	78	31
1992	57	45	22	9	25	84	22
1991	43	40	25	43	37	55	21
1990	39	33	14	38	57	53	16
1989	39	44	16	48	47	38	20
1988	32	30	22	48	56	39	25
1987	32	36	17	40	69	38	20
1986	66	32	22	22	40	28	42
1985	59	47	15	20	48	31	31
1984	55	37	16	22	44	40	36
1983	57	41	24	14	35	34	37
1982	60	55	17	20	47	35	18
1981	59	37	28	21	17	32	17
1980	73	41	24	42	7	13	10
1979	48	37	19	15	-	6	1
1978	59	48	22	73	-	16	16
1977	42	44	40	49	-	5	5
1976	47	33	18	26	-	8	3
1975	55	57	28	59	-	6	12
1974	69	66	40	41	-	6	25
1973	56	49	24	25	-	-	14
1972	46	44	30	21	-	-	11
1971	41	28	13	22	-	-	13
1970	51	22	13	16	-	-	13
1969	36	20	11	7	-	1	9
Total	1893	1641	925	1077	718	1766	888
Total Players Drafted (1969–2007):							8,908

Player numbers by team

This is a ranking of the minor teams who have provided the most players to the NHL as of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Rank - Team, League - Players

1. Peterborough Petes, OHL - 162
2. Oshawa Generals, OHL - 146
3. Kitchener Rangers, OHL - 140
4. London Knights, OHL - 140
5. Ottawa 67's, OHL - 132
6. Saskatoon Blades, WHL - 108
7. Regina Pats, WHL - 107
8. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL - 107
9. Sudbury Wolves, OHL - 107
10. Kamloops Blazers, WHL - 105
11. Portland Winter Hawks, WHL - 105
12. Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL - 101
13. Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL - 97
14. Toronto Marlboros, OHL - 97 (defunct)
15. Kingston Frontenacs, OHL - 94
16. Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL - 91
17. Lethbridge Hurricanes, WHL - 87
18. Prince Albert Raiders, WHL - 80
19. Windsor Spitfires, OHL - 76
20. Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL - 74
21. Hull/Gatineau Olympiques, QMJHL - 72
22. Niagara Falls Thunder, OHL - 72 (defunct)
23. Victoria Cougars, WHL - 70 (defunct)
24. Minnesota, NCAA's WCHA - 68
25. Guelph Storm, OHL - 67
26. Michigan, NCAA's CCHA - 66
27. Calgary Wranglers, WHL - 66 (defunct)
28. Sherbrooke Castors, QMJHL - 63 (defunct)
29. Hamilton Steelhawks, OHL - 62 (defunct)
30. New Westminster Bruins, WHL - 62 (defunct)
31. CSKA Moscow, Russia - 60
32. Spokane Chiefs, WHL - 60
33. Belleville Bulls, OHL - 59
34. Moose Jaw Warriors, WHL - 58
35. Swift Current Broncos, WHL - 58
36. North Bay Centennials, OHL - 56 (defunct)
37. Plymouth Whalers, OHL - 54
38. Laval Titan, QMJHL - 54 (defunct)
39. Drummondville Voltigeurs, QMJHL - 53
40. Hamilton Fincups, OHA - 52 (defunct)
41. Chicoutimi Saguenéens, QMJHL - 51
42. Tri-City Americans, WHL - 51
43. Boston University, NCAA's Hockey East - 50
44. Quebec Remparts, QMJHL - 49
45. Michigan State, NCAA's CCHA - 47
46. Trois-Rivières Draveurs, QMJHL - 47 (defunct)
47. Dynamo Moscow, Russia - 46
48. Michigan Tech, NCAA's WCHA - 46
49. Cornwall Royals, QMJHL - 45 (defunct)
50. Denver, NCAA's WCHA - 43
51. Yale, NCAA's ECAC - 43
52. Wisconsin, NCAA's WCHA - 41
53. Red Deer Rebels, WHL - 40
54. Frölunda Indians, Sweden - 39
55. North Dakota, NCAA's WCHA - 39
56. Flin Flon Bombers, WCHL - 39 (defunct)
57. Edmonton Oil Kings, WCHL - 38 (defunct)
58. Djurgårdens IF, Sweden - 37
59. Cornwall Royals, OHL - 37 (defunct)
60. Boston College, NCAA's Hockey East - 36
61. HIFK Helsinki, Finland - 35
62. MODO Hockey Örnsköldsvik, Sweden - 35
63. Cornell, NCAA's ECAC - 34
64. Harvard, NCAA's ECAC - 34
65. Jokerit Helsinki, Finland - 34
66. Providence, NCAA's Hockey East - 34
67. TPS Turku, Finland - 34
68. Winnipeg Warriors, WHL - 34 (defunct)
69. Colorado College, NCAA's WCHA - 33
70. HC Chemopetrol Litvínov, Czech Republic - 33
71. Clarkson, NCAA's ECAC - 32
72. Färjestads BK Karlstad, Sweden - 32
73. Notre Dame, NCAA's CCHA - 32
74. Montreal Junior Canadiens, QMJHL - 32 (defunct)
75. Ilves Tampere, Finland - 31
76. Krylya Sovetov Moskva, Russia - 31
77. New Hampshire, NCAA's Hockey East - 31
78. Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL - 31
79. Granby Prédateurs, QMJHL - 30 (defunct)

Note: Totals for Canadian Hockey League teams include all teams from that city, regardless of franchise moves except for Toronto, Quebec City, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

References

See also

• List of NHL first overall draft choices
• List of NHL players
• List of undrafted NHL players