1966 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1966 NHL Intra-League Draft was held June 15 in the ballroom of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The draft price was $30,000 (US). The four teams that qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs at the end of the 1965-66 season—Black Hawks, Red Wings, Canadiens and Maple Leafs—were permitted to protect 18 skaters and three goaltenders. The fifth place team, the Bruins, were permitted to protect 19 skaters and three goalies, while the last place Rangers were allowed to protect 20 skaters and three goalies. The number of goaltenders allowed to be protected was increased to three from two because of the foreboding expansion in 1967; the NHL had already decided that the number of protected goalies per team in the '67 Expansion Draft would be only one. If they were only allowed to protect two goalies in this intra-league draft then hypothetically a team could lose two of its top three goalies in the span of about a year, which was felt to be too much of a burden.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player?
Round 1
1	Orland Kurtenbach	New York Rangers	Toronto Maple Leafs	John Brenneman	claim
	pass	Boston Bruins
2	Al Lebrun	Detroit Red Wings	New York Rangers	Max Mestinsek	claim
3	Don Blackburn	Toronto Maple Leafs	Montreal Canadiens	Wally Boyer	claim
4	Wally Boyer	Chicago Black Hawks	Montreal Canadiens	Al MacNeil	claim
	pass	Montreal Canadiens
Round 2
5	Al MacNeil	New York Rangers	Montreal Canadiens	Mike McMahon	claim
6	Ted Taylor	Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	Pat Quinn	claim
Round 3
7	Ray Cullen	Detroit Red Wings	New York Rangers	Bryan Campbell	claim

1966 was the first year that a player dropped from a team's protected list to make room for another could be immediately claimed by the team who had lost a player, without forfeiting their own turn. The teams who exercised this option had to pay the other team the full draft price. As it turned out every team exercised this option and in effect this resulted in no actual cash changing hands in this entire draft; it all evened out in the end. This was changed after expansion to allow the teams who had lost a player to claim the player dropped by the other team for a reduced price (see my post about the 1972 Intra-League Draft).

←1965 Intra-League Draft

1968 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

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.