1967 Expansion Draft

Lore & Background

The draft began with the drawing of the draft order. The Kings picked first, with the North Stars, Flyers, Penguins, Seals and Blues following in that order. With the first pick in the draft the Kings chose future Hall of Fame goaltender Terry Sawchuk. The first skater chosen was center Gord Labossiere of the Canadiens, also by the Kings, as the 13th selection.

Commentators compared the draft to a rummage sale. A poll of minor league sportswriters and executives felt that Philadelphia had gotten the best of the selections and Los Angeles the worst, while the Boston Bruins were the hardest hit of existing clubs. One controversy arose from the retirement of Toronto star Red Kelly, who was expected to become the Kings' coach. Leafs' general manager Punch Imlach insisted that the Kings use one of their picks to select him, and when this did not materialize, Imlach added Kelly to the Leafs' protected list, forcing the Kings to trade their 15th pick, Ken Block, for Kelly.

Reader's Guide

The draft order was used in the first round to draft goaltenders. The order was then reversed in the second round, which was again specifically for goaltenders. The third round retained the second round's order, and in every subsequent round the draft order would rotate, such that the team that had picked first in the previous round would pick last in the following round while the other teams moved up to fill its place. Each expansion team had three minutes from the time of the previous selection to make its pick. Each expansion team was to select twenty players from the established clubs: two goaltenders and eighteen forwards and defencemen. The existing clubs were allowed to exclude a goaltender and eleven other players from eligibility in the draft by naming them to 'protected' lists.

Did You Know?

• Bill Flett and Poul Popiel were the last players selected in the draft to be active in the NHL, both playing for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1979–80 season.
• Don Caley, the 2nd pick of St. Louis, played only a single game for the Blues, the only game of his NHL career.
• Career Black Hawk Bill Hay, the 11th pick of the Blues, retired before the draft; nineteen other skaters played 20 or fewer NHL games after the draft.