1968 Reverse Draft

Since I'm already on a kick of posting draft results, what the hell: might as well keep going!


The 1968 Reverse Draft was held June 13. The big news this year was that (gasp!) actual NHLers were taken! The most notable at the time was almost certainly Allan Stanley, then a 42-year-old veteran whose NHL career stretched all the way back to the late 1940s. He was a cornerstone of the Maple Leafs defence in the 1960s, having helped them to win four Stanley Cups in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967. Stanley was chosen by the Quebec Aces, then AHL affiliates of the Flyers. He would finish off his career playing a year in Philly.


In stark contrast to the 1965 Reverse Draft where as I pointed out only one player chosen had NHL experience in the previous season, many of the choices taken in '68 had played in the NHL in the preceding year. In fact Stanley, Ed Hoesktra and Seth Martin spent the whole year in the NHL and at no point in the season were they assigned to the minors.


For Hoekstra that was his one and only season as a bona fide NHL player. He played for the Flyers after having spent the better part of his career with the Quebec Aces. He never played another NHL game after that one year.


Martin was Glenn Hall's backup in St. Louis and was left exposed in this draft because he'd already made it known that he was going to retire as a professional hockey player and go back to Trail, B.C. He played another year with the famed Smoke Eaters, with whom he'd won the World Championship in 1961 and Allan Cup in 1962, and followed that up with a last hurrah in 1969-1970 with the Spokane Jets of the Western International Hockey League. The Jets defeated the Orillia Terriers in the Allan Cup finals and Martin capped off his hockey career with another championship. His replacement in St. Louis? An old pro by the name of Plante...


Trivia for you: centreman Bill Hay, chosen in the second round by the Providence Reds, was retired. He hadn't played any hockey since the end of the 1966-67 season and he never played pro hockey again. He was for a time a member of Black Hawks' "Million Dollar Line", with Murray Balfour on his right and Bobby Hull to his left. Bill Hay was an educated man, you see; after the 1966-67 season he moved permanently to Calgary and put his degree in geology to use, working in the oil industry. (His father, Charles Cecil Hay, was president of the British-American Oil Company at the time; B-A was part-owned by Gulf Oil and became Gulf Canada in 1969.) Hay later became president of the Calgary Flames and is currently the chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
1	Jim Morrison	Baltimore Clippers	Philadelphia Flyers (Quebec Aces, AHL)
2	Ed Hoekstra	Denver Spurs	Philadelphia Flyers
3	Dick Meissner	Providence Reds	Chicago Black Hawks (Baltimore Clippers, AHL)1
4	Brian Kilrea	Vancouver Canucks	Los Angeles Kings (Springfield Kings, AHL)
5	Rocky Farr	Cleveland Barons	Montreal Canadiens (Houston Apollos, CPHL)
6	Roger Cote	Phoenix Roadrunners	Los Angeles Kings (Springfield Kings, AHL)
7	Ted Snell	Springfield Kings	Boston Bruins (Hershey Bears, AHL)
8	Al Lebrun	San Diego Gulls	Chicago Black Hawks (Dallas Black Hawks, CPHL)
9	Bob Blackburn	Buffalo Bisons	New York Rangers (Buffalo Bisons, AHL)
10	Brian Bradley	Seattle Totems	Boston Bruins (Oklahoma City Blazers, CPHL)
11	Bob Barber	Hershey Bears	Montreal Canadiens (Houston Apollos, CPHL)
12	Rick Foley	Portland Buckaroos	Toronto Maple Leafs (Rochester Americans, AHL)
13	Allan Stanley	Quebec Aces	Toronto Maple Leafs
14	George Gardner	Rochester Americans	Detroit Red Wings (Fort Worth Wings, CPHL)
Round 2
15	Bill Hay	Providence Reds	St. Louis Blues2
16	Jack McCartan	San Diego Gulls	Oakland Seals (Omaha Knights, CPHL)
17	Seth Martin	Buffalo Bisons	St. Louis Blues
18	Gord Vejprava	Seattle Totems	New York Rangers (Vancouver Canucks, WHL)

1. Dick Meissner was loaned to the Clippers by the Black Hawks in November, 1967.
2. Bill Hay retired at the end of the 1966-67 season.


The draft price was $15,000 per player.

Sources:
"Quebec Aces pluck Stanley from Leafs". Regina Leader-Post. Canadian Press. June 14, 1967. p. 27. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dOpUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lTwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2943%2C2840643