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. A poll of minor league sportswriters and executives, following the draft, felt that Philadelphia had gotten the best of the selections and Los Angeles the worst. One controversy arose from the retirement of Toronto star Red Kelly, who was expected to become the Kings' coach. As he was still under contract with the Maple Leafs, they had the rights to his services, but 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-round pick (which was used to select Ken Block) to Toronto for Red Kelly.

In Their Own Story

The room was quiet, save for the scratching of pens on paper. In a hotel suite in New York, Jack Kent Cooke and his advisors looked at the list of available players. They weren't just picking names; they were building a city's first NHL team. Across the table, representatives from the Original Six guarded their rosters fiercely. When the Kings finally claimed Ron Stewart from Detroit, a collective breath was exhaled. It wasn't just a trade; it was a promise to the fans waiting back in Los Angeles that the game had arrived for good.

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. Thus, a total of 120 players were selected.

Did You Know?

• 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.
• A poll of minor league sportswriters and executives, following the draft, felt that Philadelphia had gotten the best of the selections and Los Angeles the worst.
• Bill Flett and Poul Popiel were among the last players selected in the draft to be active in the NHL, both playing their final NHL seasons in 1977–78.