1966 NHL Amateur Draft

As promised, the results of the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft, including the picks of the WHL, AHL and CPHL teams. The draft took place in the middle of the playoffs on April 25, 1966 at the Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
1	Barry Gibbs	Boston Bruins	Estevan Bruins (SJHL)
2	Brad Park	New York Rangers	Toronto Marlboros (OHA Jr. A)
3	Terry Caffery	Chicago Black Hawks	Toronto Marlboros (OHA Jr. A)
4	John Wright	Toronto Maple Leafs	Westclair York Steel (OHA Jr. B)
5	Phil Myre	Montreal Canadiens	Shawinigan Bruins (QPJHL)
6	Steve Atkinson	Boston Bruins1	Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA Jr. A)
Round 2
7	Rick Smith	Boston Bruins	Hamilton Red Wings (OHA Jr. A)
8	Joey Johnston	New York Rangers	Peterborough Petes (OHA Jr. A)
9	Ron Dussiaume	Chicago Black Hawks	Oshawa Generals (OHA Jr. A)
10	Cam Crosby	Toronto Maple Leafs	Toronto Marlboros (OHA Jr. A)
11	Maurice St. Jacques	Montreal Canadiens	London Nationals (OHA Jr. A)
12	Jim Whittaker	Detroit Red Wings	Oshawa Generals (OHA Jr. A)
Round 3
13	Garnet Bailey	Boston Bruins	Edmonton Oil Kings (CAHL)
14	Don Luce	New York Rangers	Kitchener Rangers (OHA Jr. A)
15	Larry Gibbons	Chicago Black Hawks	Markham Seal-A-Wax (OHA Jr. B)
16	Rick Ley	Toronto Maple Leafs	Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA Jr. A)
17	Jude Drouin	Montreal Canadiens	Verdun Maple Leafs (MetMtlJHL)
18	Lee Carpenter	Detroit Red Wings	Hamilton Mountain Bees (OHA Jr. B)
Round 4
19	Tom Webster	Boston Bruins	Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA Jr. A)
20	Jack Egers	New York Rangers	Kitchener Greenshirts (OHA Jr. B)
21	Brian Morenz	Chicago Black Hawks	Oshawa Generals (OHA Jr. A)
22	Dale MacLeish	Toronto Maple Leafs	Peterborough Petes (OHA Jr. A)
23	Bob Pate	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Junior Canadiens (OHA Jr. A)
24	Grant Cole	Detroit Red Wings	St. Michael's Buzzers (OHA Jr. B)

1. Detroit Red Wings traded their first round pick to the Boston Bruins with Gary Doak, Bill Lesuk and Ron Murphy for Leo Boivin and Dean Prentice, February 17, 1966.


Players selected by the American Hockey League teams:

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
	Bill Lewis	Providence Reds	Westclair York Steel (OHA Jr. B)
	Brian Lefley	Baltimore Clippers	Winnipeg Rangers (MJHL)
	Dave Burrows	Buffalo Bisons	Dixie Beehives (OHA Jr. B)
	Jim Adair	Springfield Indians	Hamilton Mountain Bees (OHA Jr. B)
	Doug Hinton	Pittsburgh Hornets	Westclair York Steel (OHA Jr. B)
	Claude Houde	Cleveland Barons	St. Jerome Alouettes (QPJHL)
	Ross Webley	Hershey Bears	Stamford Bruins (OHA Jr. B)
	John Hughes	Rochester Americans	Westclair York Steel (OHA Jr. B)
	Hugh Harris	Quebec Aces	Stratford Braves (OHA Jr. B)
Round 2
	Joe Meehan	Providence Reds	St. Michael's Buzzers (OHA Jr. B)
	Bruce Buchanan	Baltimore Clippers	Winnipeg Braves (MJHL)
	Ken Hancock	Buffalo Bisons	Etobicoke Indians (OHA Jr. B)
	Bob Black	Springfield Indians	Oshawa Generals (OHA Jr. A)
	Frank Sawyer	Pittsburgh Hornets	Oshawa Crushmen (OHA Jr. B)
	Merose Stelmaschuk	Cleveland Barons	Edmonton (Jr. B)
	Bill Rysnick	Hershey Bears	St. Mary's Lincolns (OHA Jr. B)
	Murray McLachlan	Rochester Americans	Westclair York Steel (OHA Jr. B)
	John Cowley	Quebec Aces	Arnprior Packers (CJrAHL)
Round 3
	Phil Roberto	Providence Reds	Stamford Bruins (OHA Jr. B)
	Roger Knowles	Baltimore Clippers	Oshawa Crushmen (OHA Jr. B)
	Ron Anderson	Buffalo Bisons	Hamilton Mountain Bees (OHA Jr. B)
	Robert Leadley	Springfield Indians	St. Catharines Falcons (OHA Jr. B)
	Jim Schraefel	Pittsburgh Hornets	Edmonton Oil Kings (CAHL)
	Trevor Conn	Cleveland Barons	Etobicoke Indians (OHA Jr. B)
	Ross Gray	Hershey Bears	Stamford Bruins (OHA Jr. B)
	Larry Vander Graaf	Rochester Americans	East Elmwood (Manitoba)
	Rey Comeau	Quebec Aces	West Island Flyers (MetMtlJHL)

Players selected by the Western Hockey League teams:

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
	Tim Sheehy	San Diego Gulls	International Falls H. S. (MSHSL)
	Gerry Pinder	Los Angeles Blades	Saskatoon Blades (SJHL)
	Bob Murray	Seattle Totems	Peterborough Don Byes (OHA Jr. B)
	Karl Haggarty	San Francisco Seals	Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA Jr. A)
	Jarmo Lehtonen	Vancouver Canucks	Kitchener Greenshirts (OHA Jr. B)
	Peter Nevin	Victoria Maple Leafs	Oshawa Crushmen (OHA Jr. B)
	Doug Acomb	Portland Buckaroos	Westclair York Steel (OHA Jr. B)
Round 2
	Brad Davidson	San Diego Gulls	Markham Seal-A-Wax (OHA Jr. B)
	Jerry Korab	Los Angeles Blades	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (NOJHA)
	Doug McFadyen	Seattle Totems	Calgary
	Bill McKay	San Francisco Seals	New Liskeard (Ontario)
	Gratien Guay	Vancouver Canucks	Dolbeau Castors (SagJHL)
	Archie MacDonald	Victoria Maple Leafs	Halifax Canadiens
	Jean Potvin	Portland Buckaroos	Hull Hawks (CJrAHL)
Round 3
	Barry Byspalko	San Diego Gulls	St. Catharines Falcons (OHA Jr. B)
	Barry Long	Los Angeles Blades	Moose Jaw Canucks (SJHL)
	Doug Abel	Seattle Totems	Lashburn Red Wings (Sask. Jr. B)
	Ron Riley	San Francisco Seals	Picton Merchants (OHA Jr. C)
	Brian Cadle	Vancouver Canucks	East Elmwood (Manitoba)
	Don Culbert	Victoria Maple Leafs	New Hamburg Hahns (OHA Jr. C)
	Richard Brown	Portland Buckaroos	Silver Heights (Winnipeg)

Players selected by the Central Professional Hockey League:

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
	Rick Rowell	Memphis Wings	Hamilton Mountain Bees (OHA Jr. B)
	Seppo Ruuska	Houston Apollos	Chatham Maroons (OHA Jr. B)
	Bob Channell	St. Louis Braves	Thorold Jaycees (OHA Jr. B)
	John Gould	Tulsa Oilers	Aurora (OHA Jr. C)
	Paul Gamsby	Oklahoma City Blazers	Chatham Maroons (OHA Jr. B)
	Lorne Wallis	Minnesota Rangers	Weston (Winnipeg)
Round 2
	Randy Manery	Memphis Wings	Leamington (Ontario)
	Bob Shannon	Houston Apollos	Halifax Canadiens
	John Danby	St. Louis Braves	Dixie Beehives (OHA Jr. B)
	Joe Cooper	Tulsa Oilers	North Kildonan (Manitoba)
	Scott Harvey	Oklahoma City Blazers	Fredericton (Jr. B)
	Denis Dupere	Minnesota Rangers	Jonquiere Marquis (SagJHL)

Legend:
CAHL = Central Alberta Hockey League
CJrAHL = Central Junior A Hockey League
MJHL = Manitoba Junior Hockey League
MetMtlJHL = Metropolitan Montreal Junior Hockey League
MSHSL = Minnesota State High School League
NOJHA = Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association
OHA = Ontario Hockey Association
SagJHL = Saguenay Junior Hockey League
SJHL = Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League


The NHL had affiliation agreements with most of the teams involved and according to one source made the picks on the minor league teams' behalves. The Bruins were affiliated with the Hershey Bears, San Francisco Seals and Oklahoma City Blazers; the Black Hawks were affiliated with the Buffalo Bisons, Los Angeles Blades and St. Louis Braves; the Red Wings were affiliated with the Pittsburgh Hornets, San Diego Gulls and Memphis Wings; the Montreal Canadiens were affiliated with the Quebec Aces, Seattle Totems and Houston Apollos; the Rangers were affiliated with the Baltimore Clippers, Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Rangers; the Toronto Maple Leafs were affiliated with the Rochester Americans, Victoria Maple Leafs and Tulsa Oilers. In effect they were drafting on their own behalf. Many of the players nominally chosen by the minor league clubs were assigned to another of the parent club's affiliates.


Notice that I didn't put overall pick numbers to the picks of the WHL, AHL and CPHL teams. I know the players were drafted in that order with respect to each league but I'm not sure if they drafted separately (i.e. I don't know if the leagues drafted in the same rounds together or one after the other; the AHL and WHL played an interlocking schedule that year so I suspect they might have drafted together).

Steve Atkinson and the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft

You probably have two questions:


1) Who is Steve Atkinson?
2) Why are you bringing him up?


Steve Atkinson was a winger who played 256 of his 308 career NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres from 1970 to 1974 (the other 47 games were with the Bruins and Capitals). He was a junior star with the Niagara Falls Flyers of the OHA where he won two Memorial Cups in the late 1960s and was rookie of the year in the Central League in 1969, but even his Legends of Hockey biography describes him as "flash-in-the-pan" (http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=11879).


As for why I'm posting this it has to do with the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft. Steve Atkinson was taken #6 overall. Pretty much every 'encyclopedic' source of today says he was drafted by the Red Wings. The NHL's website says so (http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftsearch.htm?year=1966&team=&position=&round=), the NHL website's profile of Atkinson says so (http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8444984&view=notes) and so too do hockeydraftcentral.com (http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1966/66006.html), hockeydb.com (http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=127) and his Legends of Hockey biography. Total Hockey, probably the greatest single print source of hockey stats, also says he was drafted by Detroit as does the 1972-73 NHL Guide, which had a recap of every amateur draft choice taken from 1963 to 1972.


I'm thoroughly convinced they're all wrong.


If you look at his career stats from any of the sources mentioned above you'll notice he never played a game for the Red Wings. In fact his first pro experience came with the Oklahoma City Blazers of the CPHL, an affiliate of the Boston Bruins, and his first NHL game was with the Bruins. How did he get to be a Bruins player?


All of those other sources say something to the effect of "traded to Boston by Detroit to complete transaction that sent Leo Boivin and Dean Prentice to Detroit (February, 1966), June 6, 1966". Boivin and Prentice were traded to Detroit in February that year as part of the Red Wings' push for a Stanley Cup. Sent the other way were Gary Doak, Ron Murphy, Bill Lesuk and Steve Atkinson.


Okay, fine, but there's a curious little problem with this: every source of the time I can find says Atkinson was drafted by Boston. An article from the Toronto Star and a Canadian Press release listed the draft picks, and Atkinson was among the Bruins' choices. Explanation for this is in the CP release printed in the Regina Leader-Post on April 26, 1966: "Boston Bruins had an extra choice as Detroit Red Wings waived their first draft choice to that club by prior arrangement." That sounds a little cumbersome to the modern reader but the gist is that the Red Wings traded their first-round pick to the Bruins. When? In the deal for Prentice and Boivin in February.


From the Montreal Gazette, Feb. 18, 1966: "In addition to Murphy and Doak, Boston will receive an amateur player to be named later plus an amateur draft concession." The amateur to be named later was Bill Lesuk, and the "amateur draft concession" was Steve Atkinson. Or rather the pick used to select Steve Atkinson. Steve Atkinson wasn't drafted by Detroit, he was drafted by Boston.


I think I have an explanation for why the reporting of this was so confusing: this was the first ever NHL draft pick traded. It had never been done before! It wouldn't be done again until 1968, when the Canadiens selected Jim Pritchard using the first-round pick they acquired from the Seals in a deal for Norm Ferguson and Stan Fuller.


As for where the June 6, 1966 date for Atkinson's transfer to the Bruins came from, I don't know. Perhaps this was the date Bill Lesuk was traded to the Bruins.


Later I will post the complete results of the 1966 Draft, which not only included the 24 picks made by the NHL teams but also included another 60 players drafted by the teams of the WHL, AHL and CPHL. The courtesy of allowing the WHL, AHL and CPHL teams to draft players was enacted in 1965. That year only one team exercised that option: the AHL's Pittsburgh Hornets selected Gary Beattie (who went on to never play a pro game, even a minor pro game, as far as I know). This practice was abandoned after expansion in 1967.


Sources:
"Wings Get Boivin, Prentice; Give Boston Murphy, Doak". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. February 18, 1966. p. 25. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q5ouAAAAIBAJ&sjid=np8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6638%2C4229944
"Pros Spend $192,000 In Draft". Montreal Gazette. April 26, 1966. p. 26. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hcUtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=up8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=5170%2C6241115
"Pro prospects pinpointed". Regina Leader-Post. Canadian Press. April 26, 1966. p. 22. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yOhUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dDwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6703%2C5055068
Andrews, Ron (ed.). 1972-73 NHL Guide. The National Hockey League. 1972. pp. 135-137.
Burnett, Red. "Bob Davidson loses even his nephew in draft". Toronto Star. April 26, 1966. p. 10.
Diamond, Dan et al (eds.). Total Hockey. New York: Total Sports, 1998. p. 286.

The Los Angeles Kings, Long Beach Arena and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

There have been a few occasions in NHL history where a team has been forced to play in a temporary home because of a problem with their regular home arena. For example on March 1, 1968 the roof of the Spectrum in Philly was damaged in a wind storm. The Flyers were forced to play their last seven regular season 'home' games at neutral sites: March 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York versus the Seals, March 7 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto versus the Bruins, and games on March 10, 14, 17, 28 and 30 at Le Colisée de Québec. In 1979 the Hartford Whalers played their first home games in the NHL at the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts because the Hartford Civic Center's roof collapsed under the weight of snow in January, 1978. They didn't return to the Hartford Civic Center until February 6, 1980.

Another such example was the Los Angeles Kings in 1967, the beginning of their inaugural season. Kings and L.A. Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke was building his own arena, The Forum in Inglewood, to house his hockey and basketball teams. He had had a 'prickly' relationship with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, the Lakers' landlord at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (located next to the gargantuan Memorial Coliseum). In fact they had supported a rival bid for an NHL expansion team led by Jim Piggott and Dan Reeves, owners of the WHL's Los Angeles Blades. The Blades held the hockey lease at the Sports Arena and the Coliseum Commission wouldn't let the new NHL team play there.

So Cooke built his "Fabulous Forum" and it opened December 30, 1967. Unfortunately for him NHL seasons start in October, not December. The Kings were forced to play in two temporary homes in the Los Angeles area until the Forum opened. The Kings themselves say as much in their online history (see http://kings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=40920). They note that the team opened the season at home at Long Beach Arena, played a couple games there, and then played at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena until the Forum opened December 30. 

The L.A. Kings have botched their own history.

The Kings did indeed play their two inaugural home games at Long Beach Arena: October 14 versus the Flyers and October 15 versus the North Stars. And they did start playing at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena thereafter, beginning October 31 versus the Rangers. The incorrect information here is that the Kings' website says "Those two games would be the only games the Kings ever played at the Long Beach Arena, posting an all-time mark of 2-0-0," and "The Kings would play their final game [at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena] on Dec. 21, a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins." Neither are true.

The latter is quite obviously not true because the Forum opened December 30 and the Kings had another home game after the 21st, before the Forum opened: on the 23rd against the Blues. This was their last home game at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (a 4-0 shutout). This is blatantly obvious on the Kings' own webpage about their 1967-68 season: http://kings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=41005

Concerning their games played at Long Beach they say only two but other sources say otherwise. In fact I have found sources of the time saying the games on December 6, 8, 15 and 16 were played at Long Beach Arena, with quotes like:

"The Kings, with an 11-9-3 record and 25 points, hope to gain their first victory over the Blues when the two teams tangle in the Long Beach Sports Arena." (The Press-Courier, Dec. 4, 1967)

"The Kings have a chance to either lengthen their lead of lose it Friday when they meet the Flyers at the Long Beach Arena." (Windsor Star, Dec. 7, 1968)

"The Kings, shut out in their previous two games, were beaten by the East Division-leading Boston Bruins 5-2 at the Long Beach Arena." (The Press-Courier, Dec. 18, 1967)

The only one up in the air is the game on the 15th against the Minnesota North Stars. Most newspapers at the time simply referred to the game having been played "at Los Angeles", not naming the particular arena. I have found a short article from the Associated Press carried in a few newspapers about the results of the game, with the reporting location cited as Long Beach. Another article dated Monday the 18th said "The slumping Los Angeles Kings, losers of seven of their last 10 National Hockey League starts, play three games this week—all at the [Los Angeles Memorial] Sports Arena," which suggests the games played the week before (Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th) were played at Long Beach. It seems most likely that this game on the 15th was played at Long Beach.

That means that the Kings played the following games at Long Beach Arena:

• October 14 vs. the Flyers (4-2W)
• October 15 vs. the North Stars (5-3W)
• December 6 vs. the Blues (3-2W)
• December 8 vs. the Flyers (3-0L)
• December 15 vs. the North Stars (3-0L)
• December 16 vs. the Bruins (5-2L)

And the following were played at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena:

• October 31 vs. the Rangers (6-1L)
• November 2 vs. the Black Hawks (3-1L)
• November 7 vs. the Seals (5-4W)
• November 9 vs. the Maple Leafs (4-1W)
• November 17 vs. the Red Wings (4-1L)
• November 19 vs. the Canadiens (4-2W)
• November 22 vs. the Seals (3-1W)
• November 24 vs. the Penguins (5-3W)
• December 19 vs. the Seals (3-1W)
• December 21 vs. the Penguins (4-1W)
• December 23 vs. the Blues (4-0W)

In six home games at Long Beach the Kings went 3-3-0 with 14 GF, 18 GA, and overall attendance of a paltry 30,918 (an average of 5,153). In 11 home games at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena they went 8-3-0, 35 GF, 26 GA, with 71,846 fans attending (6,531 average). At The Forum they went 9-7-4, 67 GF, 52 GA and 194,490 fans (9,725 average). The Kings had better results on the ice at their temporary homes in '67 but their gate receipts were much better at the Forum. So it goes ...

Update — August 30, 2016

Perhaps the most definitive, irrefutable proof I've found that the Kings played the games on December 6, 8, 15 and 16 at Long Beach Arena is this ticket order form from the program from the King's first home game on October 14, which clearly shows where each home game was scheduled. This image is by former FAN590 reporter Howard Berger, who posted it to his blog at betweentheposts.ca from his personal memorabilia collection. Thanks, Howard!

Sources:

"Kings Beaten By NY, Fall Out of First". The Press-Courier. Associated Press. (Oxnard, California). Dec. 4, 1967. p. 11. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HP1RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iDQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4398%2C717795

"Kings take over top spot". Windsor Star. Dec. 7, 1967. p. B3. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ojU_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=n1EMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4638%2C2677934

"Kings Blanked gain, 3-0, By Minnesota's Maniago". The Press-Courier. Associated Press. (Oxnard, California). Dec. 16, 1967. p. 10. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KP1RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iDQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1959%2C3396598

"Kings Seek to Regain Cool On Ice This Week". The Press-Courier. United Press International (Oxnard, California). Dec. 18, 1967. p. 13. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Kv1RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iDQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5720%2C3945252

1973 NHL Inter-League Draft

I thought I'd follow up today's earlier post about the Inter-League and Reserve Drafts with the results of the 1973 Inter-League Draft. Why that draft? An interesting piece of trivia: only one player was taken.


That's right, only one. Hartland Monahan, son-in-law of Bernie Geoffrion, was picked by the California Golden Seals from their WHL affiliate in Salt Lake City.


Monahan was an Amateur Draft pick of the Golden Seals in 1971. Why he had to be reacquired from the WHL farm team I don't know; at some point in 1972 his rights must have been transferred to the Golden Eagles. In 1971-72 he split his time between the AHL's Baltimore Clippers (who had an affiliation agreement with the Golden Seals) and the IHL's Columbus Golden Seals (who were another Golden Seals farm club). The Golden Seals added the Salt Lake Golden Eagles as an affiliate in 1972. I presume they acquired Monahan's rights as part of the affiliation agreement.


The reason for only one player being selected? Floyd Curry, then the Assistant General Manager of the Canadiens, was quoted saying, " ... with the price tag set at $30,000 I don't think anybody was too interested in making a move."


Source:
Gilbert, Doug. (June 12, 1973). "Monahan lone pick". Montreal Gazette. p. 35. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=85guAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2024%2C3310883

The NHL Inter-League Draft & Reverse Draft

A lot of my research into the Seals has gone into player transactions. That's why I wanted to track down the draft order of the 1967 Expansion Draft. It wasn't enough for me to copy and paste a list of players drafted by the Seals: I wanted to know how the draft played out. Why the Seals picked one player over another. To see who was still available at any given point, who got picked before who, who got passed over.


This also led me to do a little investigating into the annual NHL drafts of the time. The NHL had instituted a "Intra-League Draft" in the early 1950s to help the Bruins and Black Hawks be more competitive. This eventually became the Waiver Draft, which lasted until the 2003-2004 season. The 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and NHLPA eliminated the Waiver Draft. The purpose of this draft was to improve the non-playoff teams by allowing them to acquire their pick of some of the worst players on the playoff teams.


In the 1960s three other drafts were instituted: the Amateur Draft (now the Entry Draft), the Inter-League Draft and the Reverse Draft. The Inter-League Draft was akin to the Amateur Draft in that NHL teams picked players from other leagues but whereas the Amateur Draft was a draft of (mostly) junior players the Inter-League Draft was a draft of minor-league professionals playing in the Western Hockey League (not to be confused with the current Major Junior WHL), AHL and CPHL.


The Reverse Draft, inaugurated in 1965, was a 'reverse' version of the Inter-League Draft: WHL and AHL teams could draft players from the NHL teams. Pickings were usually quite slim as the number of players 'protected' by the NHL teams was two to three dozen. The minor pro teams were drafting players who were already playing in the minors anyway, some already playing for the minor team in question after been loaned to them by an NHL affiliate.


The results of Inter-League and Reverse Drafts weren't always reported well, probably because in some years these affairs were very brief. Tracing my way back through rosters there were a few players picked up by or lost from NHL teams for seemingly no reason when in fact they had been exchanged as part of these drafts.


The following are the results of the 1968 Inter-League Draft, which weren't even published in the NHL Guide that year.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
1	Brian Perry	Oakland Seals	Providence Reds (AHL)
	pass	Detroit Red Wings
	pass	Pittsburgh Penguins
	pass	Toronto Maple Leafs
2	Larry Hale	Minnesota North Stars	Seattle Totems (WHL)
3	Myron Stankiewicz	St. Louis Blues	Hershey Bears (AHL)
	pass	Los Angeles Kings
	pass	Philadelphia Flyers
4	Larry Leach	Chicago Black Hawks	Portland Buckaroos (WHL)
	pass	Boston Bruins
	pass	New York Rangers
5	Len Ronson	Montreal Canadiens	San Diego Gulls (WHL)
Round 2
all teams passed

The NHL teams paid the respective minor league teams $30,000 for each pick.


Sources:
"NHL clubs pick 5 players in interleague drafting". The Globe & Mail (Toronto). p. 30. June 12, 1968.

The 1967 NHL Expansion Draft

The NHL's expansion in 1967 was the first expansion of the league since 1926 when the Chicago Black Hawks (that's "Black Hawks", not Blackhawks; the spelling wasn't changed until 1986!) and Detroit Cougars (later renamed the Red Wings) joined the NHL and pushed the number of teams up to 10. Slowly over the course of the 1930s the NHL dwindled to six teams. In 1930 the Pittsburgh Pirates moved to Philly and played a season as the Quakers before folding. The Ottawa Senators suspended operations in 1931, resumed operations in 1932, moved to St. Louis in 1934 and folded in 1935. The Montreal Maroons (original tenants of the famed Forum) withdrew from the league in 1938. Finally in 1942 the Brooklyn Americans (née New York Americans; they played in Madison Square Garden in Manhattan) folded. From 1942 to the end of the 1967 season the NHL consisted of only six teams: the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Bruins, Rangers, Black Hawks and Red Wings.

In the mid–1960s the NHL, following the lead of the pro football and baseball leagues, decided to expand. The NHL was tempted by the potential for revenue from a U.S. national television deal to plunk new teams down west and south of the Original Six sites. The six new franchises were conditionally awarded on February 9, 1966 with new teams in St. Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, the Twin Cities of Minnesota, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The price for each new franchise to enter the league was $2,000,000. Nominally this fee would go to the owners of the existing franchises as consideration for purchasing the contracts of 20 players; $100,000 per player. How else was an expansion team to stock its roster?

On June 5, 1967 the new teams (the Blues, Flyers, Penguins, North Stars, Kings and Seals) presented cheques for $2,000,000 to the existing NHL owners to officially receive their franchises and the following day, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, the first NHL Expansion Draft was held.

The problem I had found in researching this event was not that I couldn't find the list of players taken; it's easy enough to work that out by looking at the 1967-68 rosters and working backward to June 5, 1967. The problem was finding the rules of the draft and the draft order. The draft order of, say, an NHL Entry Draft is well known and documented but the order of this expansion draft was not in any source I'd ever seen. The 1967-68 NHL Guide doesn't even have this information, just a summary of the players taken by the new teams and the lists of players protected by the old teams.

The rules of the draft were as follows:

• The new teams would chose 20 players: 2 goaltenders and 18 skaters. The goaltenders would be chosen in the first two rounds.
• The existing teams would file lists of protected players, their best players who would be exempt from being chosen. These lists consisted of 11 skaters (forwards & defencemen) and one goaltender. They were presented to Don Ellis, the Director of the NHL's Central Registry by 5 p.m. on the 5th, and posted at the draft proceedings on the 6th at 9 a.m. Other players exempted from the draft proceedings included junior-eligible players who played on a pro team, any pro team, in the 1966-67 season. This meant players such as Bobby Orr were exempt. Players sold to a minor league team in the 1966-67 season would not be eligible either. Rookies in 1966-67 would not be eligible until their team had protected 18 skaters and 2 goaltenders total (including the goalie and 11 players on the initial protected list; this clause was used to great effect by the Montreal Canadiens, who were able to keep players like Serge Savard, Carol Vadnais and Jacques Lemaire without having to put them on their original protected list).
• NHL President Clarence Campbell would chose the draft order by picking ballots out of the Stanley Cup. The teams would draft in the order of ballots picked out of the Cup in the first round of goaltenders taken. In the second round the draft order was reversed. The draft order for the third round, the first round of skaters, would be chosen at random again and the order of every round that followed would be the same except that the team that picked first in the previous round was bumped to last in the following round and all the others moved up one position (i.e. if the first round of players was A-B-C-D-E-F the second would be B-C-D-E-F-A, third would be C-D-E-F-A-B, and so on).
• New teams had three minutes to pick a player or would forfeit their pick (as far as I can tell this did not happen to any team).
• After the first goalie was taken from a team that existing team would add another goalie to its 'protected' list. Existing teams would "fill in" their protected lists after the first, second, fifth and all subsequent skaters chosen. An existing team could lose only 18 players.

Special thanks to Paul Shallenberger for helping suss it all out.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Fill-In
Round 1
1	Terry Sawchuk	Los Angeles Kings	Toronto Maple Leafs	Al Smith
2	Bernie Parent	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Eddie Johnston
3	Glenn Hall	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Black Hawks	Dave Dryden
4	Cesare Maniago	Minnesota North Stars	New York Rangers	Gilles Villemure
5	Joe Daley	Pittsburgh Penguins	Detroit Red Wings	George Gardner
6	Charlie Hodge	California Seals	Montreal Canadiens	Rogie Vachon
Round 2
7	Gary Smith	California Seals	Toronto Maple Leafs
8	Roy Edwards	Pittsburgh Penguins	Chicago Black Hawks
9	Gary Bauman	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens
10	Don Caley	St. Louis Blues	Detroit Red Wings
11	Doug Favell	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins
12	Wayne Rutledge	Los Angeles Kings	New York Rangers
Round 3
13	Dave Balon	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens	Claude Larose
14	Bobby Baun	California Seals	Toronto Maple Leafs	Murray Oliver
15	Earl Ingarfield	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers	Reg Fleming
16	Gord Labossiere	Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	Claude Provost
17	Ed Van Impe	Philadelphia Flyers	Chicago Black Hawks	Eric Nesterenko
18	Jim Roberts	St. Louis Blues	Montreal Canadiens
Round 4
19	Kent Douglas	California Seals	Toronto Maple Leafs	Allan Stanley
20	Al MacNeil	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers	Red Berenson
21	Bob Wall	Los Angeles Kings	Detroit Red Wings	Howie Young
22	Joe Watson	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Dallas Smith
23	Noel Picard	St. Louis Blues	Montreal Canadiens
24	Ray Cullen	Minnesota North Stars	Detroit Red Wings	Floyd Smith
Round 5
25	Larry Jeffrey	Pittsburgh Penguins	Toronto Maple Leafs
26	Eddie Joyal	Los Angeles Kings	Toronto Maple Leafs
27	Brit Selby	Philadelphia Flyers	Toronto Maple Leafs	George Armstrong
28	Al Arbour	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs	Duane Rupp
29	Bob Woytowich	Minnesota North Stars	Boston Bruins	Skip Krake
30	Bill Hicke	California Seals	New York Rangers
Round 6
31	Real Lemieux	Los Angeles Kings	Detroit Red Wings
32	Lou Angotti	Philadelphia Flyers	Chicago Black Hawks	Wayne Maki
33	Rod Seiling	St. Louis Blues	New York Rangers
34	Jean-Guy Talbot	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens	Dick Duff
35	Billy Harris	California Seals	Detroit Red Wings
36	Ab McDonald	Pittsburgh Penguins	Detroit Red Wings	Gary Jarrett
Round 7
37	Leon Rochefort	Philadelphia Flyers	Montreal Canadiens	Carol Vadnais
38	Ron Schock	St. Louis Blues	Boston Bruins
39	Wayne Connelly	Minnesota North Stars	Boston Bruins
40	Larry Cahan	California Seals	New York Rangers	Larry Mickey
41	Leo Boivin	Pittsburgh Penguins	Detroit Red Wings	Bob Falkenberg
42	Poul Popeil	Los Angeles Kings	Boston Bruins	Ron Buchanan
Round 8
43	Terry Crisp	St. Louis Blues	Boston Bruins	Wayne Cashman
44	Ted Taylor	Minnesota North Stars	Detroit Red Wings	Nick Libett
45	Wally Boyer	California Seals	Chicago Black Hawks
46	Noel Price	Pittsburgh Penguins	Montreal Canadiens	Serge Savard
47	Terry Gray	Los Angeles Kings	Detroit Red Wings	Ron Anderson
48	Don Blackburn	Philadelphia Flyers	Toronto Maple Leafs	Darryl Sly
Round 9
49	Pete Goegan	Minnesota North Stars	Detroit Red Wings	Craig Cameron
50	Joe Szura	California Seals	Montreal Canadiens	Danny Grant
51	Keith McCreary	Pittsburgh Penguins	Montreal Canadiens	Jacques Lemaire
52	Bryan Campbell	Los Angeles Kings	New York Rangers	Bob Plager
53	John Miszuk	Philadelphia Flyers	Chicago Black Hawks
54	Don McKenney	St. Louis Blues	Detroit Red Wings	Jim Watson
Round 10
55	Bob Lemieux	California Seals	Montreal Canadiens	Andre Boudrias
56	Ken Schinkel	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers	Paul Andrea
57	Ted Irvine	Los Angeles Kings	Boston Bruins	Jean Pronovost
58	Garry Peters	Philadelphia Flyers	Montreal Canadiens	Mike McMahon
59	Wayne Rivers	St. Louis Blues	Boston Bruins	Bob Heaney
60	Len Lunde	Minnesota North Stars	Chicago Black Hawks	Matt Ravlich
Round 11
61	Bob Dillabough	Pittsburgh Penguins	Boston Bruins	Ted Hodgson
62	Howie Hughes	Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	Bob Charlebois
63	Dick Cherry	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Ron Murphy
64	Bill Hay	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Black Hawks	Paul Terbenche
65	Bill Goldsworthy	Minnesota North Stars	Boston Bruins	John Arbour
66	Jean-Paul Parise	California Seals	Boston Bruins	Glen Sather
Round 12
67	Bill Inglis	Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	Don Johns
68	Jean Gauthier	Philadelphia Flyers	Montreal Canadiens	Bill McCreary
69	Darryl Edestrand	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs	Red Kelly
70	Andre Pronovost	Minnesota North Stars	Detroit Red Wings	George Harris
71	Ron Harris	California Seals	Boston Bruins	Dave Woodley
72	Art Stratton	Pittsburgh Penguins	Chicago Black Hawks	Geoff Powis
Round 13
73	Jim Johnson	Philadelphia Flyers	New York Rangers	George Konik
74	Norm Beaudin	St. Louis Blues	Detroit Red Wings	Irv Spencer
75	Elmer Vasko	Minnesota North Stars	Chicago Black Hawks	Doug Shelton
76	Terry Clancy	California Seals	Toronto Maple Leafs	Gerry Ehman
77	Val Fonteyne	Pittsburgh Penguins	Detroit Red Wings	Jim Peters
78	Doug Robinson	Los Angeles Kings	New York Rangers	Gary Sabourin
Round 14
79	Larry Keenan	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs	Dick Gamble
80	Murray Hall	Minnesota North Stars	Chicago Black Hawks	Wayne Smith
81	Tracy Pratt	California Seals	Chicago Black Hawks	Mike Chernoff
82	Jeannot Gilbert	Pittsburgh Penguins	Boston Bruins	Brian Bradley
83	Mike Corrigan	Los Angeles Kings	Toronto Maple Leafs	Don Cherry
84	Gary Dornhoefer	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Ted Snell
Round 15
85	Bryan Watson	Minnesota North Stars	Detroit Red Wings	Fred Hilts
86	Autry Erickson	California Seals	Toronto Maple Leafs	Norm Armstrong
87	Tom McCarthy	Pittsburgh Penguins	Montreal Canadiens	Bill Plager
88	Jacques Lemieux	Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	Leo Thiffault
89	Forbes Kennedy	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Wayne Maxner
90	Ron Stewart	St. Louis Blues	Boston Bruins	Bob Leiter
Round 16
91	Ron Boehm	California Seals	New York Rangers	Dunc McCallum
92	Billy Dea	Pittsburgh Penguins	Chicago Black Hawks	Roger Bellerive
93	Lowell MacDonald	Los Angeles Kings	Toronto Maple Leafs	Bronco Horvath
94	Pat Hannigan	Philadelphia Flyers	Chicago Black Hawks	Al Lebrun
95	Fred Hucul	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs	Les Duff
96	Bill Collins	Minnesota North Stars	New York Rangers	Bob Jones
Round 17
97	Bobby Rivard	Pittsburgh Penguins	Montreal Canadiens	Jim Paterson
98	Ken Block	Los Angeles Kings	New York Rangers	Bob Blackburn
99	Dwight Carruthers	Philadelphia Flyers	Detroit Red Wings	Gary Marsh
100	John Brenneman	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs	Barry Watson
101	Sandy Fitzpatrick	Minnesota North Stars	New York Rangers	Bob Ash
102	Alain Caron	California Seals	Chicago Black Hawks	Oscar Gaudet
Round 18
103	Bill Flett	Los Angeles Kings	Toronto Maple Leafs	Stan Smrke
104	Bob Courcy	Philadelphia Flyers	Montreal Canadiens
105	Gerry Melnyk	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Black Hawks	Jack Stanfield
106	Parker MacDonald	Minnesota North Stars	Detroit Red Wings	Rick McCann
107	Mike Laughton	California Seals	Toronto Maple Leafs	Milan Marcetta
108	Mel Pearson	Pittsburgh Penguins	Chicago Black Hawks	Brian McDonald
Round 19
109	Keith Wright	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins
110	Gary Veneruzzo	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs
111	Billy Taylor	Minnesota North Stars	Chicago Black Hawks	Dick Meissner
112	Bryan Hextall, Jr.	California Seals	New York Rangers	Bill Knibbs
113	Andy Bathgate	Pittsburgh Penguins	Detroit Red Wings	Larry Billows
114	Brent Hughes	Los Angeles Kings	Detroit Red Wings
Round 20
115	Max Mestinsek	St. Louis Blues	New York Rangers	Ron Ingram
116	Dave Richardson	Minnesota North Stars	Chicago Black Hawks	Ross Eichler
117	Gary Kilpatrick	California Seals	Chicago Black Hawks
118	Les Hunt	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers	Gord Vejprava
119	Marc Dufour	Los Angeles Kings	New York Rangers	Wayne Hall
120	Terry Ball	Philadelphia Flyers	New York Rangers

The protected lists:

Boston Bruins	Chicago Black Hawks	Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	New York Rangers	Toronto Maple Leafs
Gerry Cheevers	Denis DeJordy	Roger Crozier	Gump Worsley	Ed Giacomin	Johnny Bower
Ted Green	Doug Jarrett	Gary Bergman	J.C. Tremblay	Arnie Brown	Tim Horton
Gary Doak	Gilles Marotte	Bert Marshall	Jacques Laperriere	Wayne Hillman	Larry Hillman
John Bucyk	Pierre Pilote	Bob McCord	Terry Harper	Harry Howell	Marcel Pronovost
Ed Westfall	Pat Stapleton	Alex Delvecchio	Ted Harris	Jim Neilson	Mike Walton
Tom Williams	Dennis Hull	Gordie Howe	Jean Beliveau	Rod Gilbert	Jim Pappin
John McKenzie	Bobby Hull	Norm Ullman	Ralph Backstrom	Phil Goyette	Pete Stemkowski
Ken Hodge	Chico Maki	Paul Henderson	Henri Richard	Vic Hadfield	Bob Pulford
Phil Esposito	Pit Martin	Bruce MacGregor	Gilles Tremblay	Orland Kurtenbach	Frank Mahovlich
Eddie Shack	Stan Mikita	Ted Hampson	John Ferguson	Don Marshall	Dave Keon
Fred Stanfield	Doug Mohns	Doug Roberts	Yvan Cournoyer	Bob Nevin	Ron Ellis
Don Awrey	Ken Wharram	Dean Prentice	Bobby Rousseau	Jean Ratelle	Brian Conacher

Junior-age players who were exempt from the draft proceedings included Ross Lonsberry, Bobby Orr, Doug Barrie, Bart Crashley, Pete Mahovlich, David Rochefort, Lucien Grenier, Al Hamilton, Wayne Carleton and Jim McKenny. (This list is not exhaustive; I'll look into who else may have been exempt under this rule later.)

The fill-ins:

Boston Bruins	Chicago Black Hawks	Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	New York Rangers	Toronto Maple Leafs
Eddie Johnston	Dave Dryden	George Gardner	Rogie Vachon	Gilles Villemure	Al Smith
Dallas Smith	Eric Nesterenko	Howie Young	Claude Larose	Reg Fleming	Murray Oliver
Skip Krake	Wayne Maki	Floyd Smith	Claude Provost	Red Berenson	Allan Stanley
Ron Buchanan	Matt Ravlich	Gary Jarrett	Dick Duff	Larry Mickey	George Armstrong
Wayne Cashman	Paul Terbenche	Bob Falkenberg	Carol Vadnais	Bob Plager	Duane Rupp
Jean Pronovost	Geoff Powis	Nick Libett	Serge Savard	Paul Andrea	Darryl Sly
Bob Heaney	Doug Shelton	Ron Anderson	Danny Grant	George Konik	Red Kelly
Ted Hodgson	Wayne Smith	Craig Cameron	Jacques Lemaire	Gary Sabourin	Gerry Ehman
Ron Murphy	Mike Chernoff	Jim Watson	Andre Boudrias	Dunc McCallum	Dick Gamble
John Arbour	Roger Bellerive	George Harris	Mike McMahon	Bob Jones	Don Cherry
Glen Sather	Al Lebrun	Irv Spencer	Bob Charlebois	Bob Blackburn	Norm Armstrong
Dave Woodley	Oscar Gaudet	Jim Peters	Don Johns	Bob Ash	Bronco Horvath
Brian Bradley	Jack Stanfield	Fred Hilts	Bill McCreary	Bill Knibbs	Les Duff
Ted Snell	Brian McDonald	Gary Marsh	Bill Plager	Ron Ingram	Barry Watson
Wayne Maxner	Dick Meissner	Rick McCann	Leo Thiffault	Gord Vejprava	Stan Smrke
Bob Leiter	Ross Eichler	Larry Billows	Jim Paterson	Wayne Hall	Milan Marcetta

The draft got started at 10 a.m. on the 6th of June and was wrapped up around 3:30 that afternoon.


Sources:
Andrews, Ron. (ed.) 1967-68 NHL Guide. The National Hockey League. 1967. pp. 108-109.
Curran, Pat. "What if the cheque bounces?". Montreal Gazette. p. 37, June 5, 1967. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yp4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BqAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6612,1033677
Curran, Pat. "Habs Regain Larose In Draft Deal". Montreal Gazette. p. 37, June 7, 1967. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zJ4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BqAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6814%2C1482922
Curran, Pat. "California, Philadelphia Rate Top Expansion Clubs". Montreal Gazette. p. 38, June 7, 1967. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zJ4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BqAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7138%2C1487536
"Today's NHL Draft". The Vancouver Sun. p. 19, June 6, 1967. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M5plAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tIoNAAAAIBAJ&dq=dave%20balon&pg=5930%2C1935659

Introduction

Before you delve too far into the meat of this blog I would like to make known why I have posted this information and where I got it from.

The purpose of this blog is to act as a repository of random historical hockey stats, with a particular focus (at least at the start) on '60s and '70s info. Why the '60s and '70s? Truth be told I'm working on a book about the California Seals/Oakland Seals/California Golden Seals/Cleveland Barons. The book is to be similar to a team media guide. Media guides have all sorts of information in them, particularly historical statistics: goals, points, penalty minutes, rosters, records, uniform numbers, trades, draft picks, etc. For example you can pick up a Montreal Canadiens media guide, even a brand new one, and find all sorts of information about the Canadiens going back to before the NHL existed. 

What about teams that no longer exist? The NHL went through a period of great expansion beginning in 1967 when the league doubled in size from six teams to twelve. By 1974 the league had ballooned to 18 teams; tripled! Not all of those teams were successful on and off the ice. The Minnesota North Stars, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Scouts, Cleveland Barons, Atlanta Flames and California Golden Seals have long been defunct. Some are better remembered (the North Stars) than others (the Scouts), but you can still find info on the Kansas City Scouts in a New Jersey Devils media guide (the Scouts moved to Denver in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies, and the Rockies moved to Jersey in 1982 where they have remained since). The franchise itself just moved. The Cleveland Barons, née California Seals (one of the six expansion teams in 1967), didn't move: they ceased to exist. They folded. Merged with the North Stars. All that information, all those franchise records, were forgotten. There is no 1978-79 Cleveland Barons media guide to refer back to.

So that's my goal: compile the stats of the Seals/Golden Seals/Barons (at some point I think I'm going to have to come up with an acronym for that ... ) and write a sort of media guide. A comprehensive reference for any Seals/Barons fan out there, what few are left.

In the process of researching for this book I've come across a great deal of information that hasn't been compiled in any easy-to-find resource. Rather than keep this info all to myself I feel I should share it, as it's not central to my base work. It's basic, simple stuff that fell through the cracks of time. Stuff that might hold interest for other researchers out there, other hockey fans, who might use it.

So to you dear hockey fan/researcher I leave this information for your use and perusal. Even if you're another hockey author feel free to use the information in your work; all I ask is that you cite your source: me.


I will strive to provide my sources here too. Some will come from print sources (the annual NHL Guide for example, predecessor of today's more comprehensive NHL Guide & Record Book), some from newspapers of the time, some from team media guides, some from press releases. 


Thank you for reading this, and enjoy!