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The 1967 NHL Expansion Draft was held on June 6, 1967 in the ballroom of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The draft took place to fill the rosters of the league's six expansion teams for the 1967-68 NHL season: the California Seals, the Los Angeles Kings, the Minnesota North Stars, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the St. Louis Blues.

Rules[]

As this ambitious expansion doubled the league's size from six to twelve teams, a large number of players were needed to fill the rosters of the new franchises.

Almost all of the leading professional hockey players in North America were already under contract with the six existing franchises; therefore, the draft was established to equitably distribute players from the Original Six clubs (the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs) to the new teams.

Each expansion team was to select twenty players from the established clubs: two goaltenders and eighteen forwards and defensemen. Thus, a total of 120 players were selected.

The existing clubs were allowed to exclude a goaltender and eleven other players from eligibility in the draft by naming them to "protected" lists.

Also excluded from the draft were Junior players, players who were young enough to play Junior (born on or after June 1, 1946), but who were already playing professionally, and players sold to the minor league Western Hockey League and Central Professional Hockey League before June 1, 1966.

The draft began with the drawing of the draft order. Each of the new teams' names was placed on a paper ballot enclosed in a capsule, which was drawn from the bowl of the Stanley Cup by NHL President Clarence Campbell.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock helped Campbell draw up the rules for the draft. This 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.

After each of the first, second, sixth and subsequent rounds in which any of the established teams lost a player, the team in question chose one undrafted player that it had left unprotected and moved him onto their protected lists.

Players who had played professionally for the first time in the 1966–67 season were ineligible from being picked until their respective team had filled their protected list with at least two goaltenders and eighteen other players.

Protected Lists[]

  • Boston: goaltender - Gerry Cheevers; skaters - John Bucyk, Ted Green, Ed Westfall, Tom Williams, John McKenzie, Don Awrey, Ken Hodge, Phil Esposito, Fred Stanfield, Eddie Shack and Gary Doak. Among notable players who were initially unprotected but later added to the list as fills were Dallas Smith, Wayne Cashman, Eddie Johnston, Jean Pronovost, Ron Murphy, Glen Sather and Bob Leiter.
  • Chicago: goaltender - Denis DeJordy; skaters - Bobby Hull, Dennis Hull, Doug Jarrett, Chico Maki, Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin, Stan Mikita, Doug Mohns, Pierre Pilote, Ken Wharram and Pat Stapleton. Among notable players who were initially unprotected but later added to the list as fills were Eric Nesterenko, Wayne Maki and Dave Dryden.
  • Detroit: goaltender - Roger Crozier; skaters - Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Norm Ullman, Gary Bergman, Paul Henderson, Bruce MacGregor, Ted Hampson, Dean Prentice, Bert Marshall, Doug Roberts and Bob McCord. Among notable players who were initially unprotected but later added to the list as fills were Nick Libett, Howie Young, Gary Jarrett, Floyd Smith and Jim Watson.
  • Montreal: goaltender - Lorne Worsley; skaters - Jean Beliveau, Yvan Cournoyer, J.C. Tremblay, Jacques Laperriere, Ted Harris, Terry Harper, John Ferguson, Ralph Backstrom, Henri Richard, Gilles Tremblay and Bobby Rousseau. Among notable players who were initially unprotected but later added to the list as fills were Rogie Vachon, Claude Larose, Dick Duff, Carol Vadnais, Serge Savard, Danny Grant, Jacques Lemaire and Andre Boudrias.
  • New York: goaltender - Ed Giacomin; skaters - Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield, Phil Goyette, Arnie Brown, Bob Nevin, Jim Neilson, Harry Howell, Don Marshall, Orland Kurtenbach and Wayne Hillman. Among notable players who were initially unprotected but later added to the list as fills were Gilles Villemure, Red Berenson, Reggie Fleming, Gary Sabourin and Bob Plager.
  • Toronto: goaltender - Johnny Bower; skaters - Frank Mahovlich, Dave Keon, Tim Horton, Larry Hillman, Bob Pulford, Jim Pappin, Marcel Pronovost, Mike Walton, Ron Ellis, Pete Stemkowski and Brian Conacher. Among notable players who were initially unprotected but later added to the list as fills were Al Smith, George Armstrong, Allan Stanley, Duane Rupp, Murray Oliver, Bronco Horvath, Don Cherry and Red Kelly.

Expansion Draft Results[]

The draft began with the picking 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, backbone of the great Detroit Red Wings teams of the 1950s and fresh off a Stanley Cup championship with the Maple Leafs.

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 with the Original Six losing only unnecessary if not unwanted players.

Some of the expansion teams bolstered their rosters before the Draft by purchasing minor league teams outright, thus gaining the rights to the players on their rosters such as the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League by the Kings and the Quebec Aces of the AHL by the Flyers, while the North Stars purchased the rights to seven amateur members of the Canadian National Team from Toronto.

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, while the Boston Bruins were the hardest hit of existing clubs.

Among the Bruins' players drafted were future Hall of Famer Bernie Parent and future All-Stars J.P. Parise, Poul Popiel, Wayne Connelly, Bill Goldsworthy, Gary Dornhoefer, Ron Schock and Wayne Rivers.

It was considered that the Canadiens (reported to have made a number of backroom deals to avoid losing valued unprotected players) fared the best of the established clubs, keeping unprotected talent such as Claude Larose, Carol Vadnais, Serge Savard and Danny Grant.

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 pick, Ken Block, for Kelly.

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 1980 season while Parent, playing in 551 NHL games (not counting his season in the World Hockey Association) had the longest career of any goaltender selected.

Popiel was the last player chosen to be active in professional hockey, playing for the Muskegon Mohawks of the International Hockey League in 1982.

By contrast, 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.

Round # Player Position Drafted by Selected from
1 1 Sawchuk, TerryTerry Sawchuk Goaltender Los Angeles Kings Toronto Maple Leafs
1 2 Parent, BernieBernie Parent Goaltender Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
1 3 Hall, GlennGlenn Hall Goaltender St. Louis Blues Chicago Black Hawks
1 4 Maniago, CesareCesare Maniago Goaltender Minnesota North Stars New York Rangers
1 5 Daley, JoeJoe Daley Goaltender Pittsburgh Penguins Detroit Red Wings
1 6 Hodge, CharlieCharlie Hodge Goaltender California Seals Montreal Canadiens
2 7 Rutledge, WayneWayne Rutledge Goaltender Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers
2 8 Bauman, GarryGarry Bauman Goaltender Minnesota North Stars Montreal Canadiens
2 9 Favell, DougDoug Favell Goaltender Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
2 10 Edwards, RoyRoy Edwards Goaltender Pittsburgh Penguins Chicago Black Hawks
2 11 Smith, GaryGary Smith Goaltender California Seals Toronto Maple Leafs
2 12 Caley, DonDon Caley Goaltender St. Louis Blues Detroit Red Wings
3 13 Labossiere, GordGord Labossiere Centre Los Angeles Kings Montreal Canadiens
3 14 Balon, DaveDave Balon Left wing Minnesota North Stars Montreal Canadiens
3 15 Roberts, JimJim Roberts Defence St. Louis Blues Montreal Canadiens
3 16 Van Impe, EdEd Van Impe Defence Philadelphia Flyers Chicago Black Hawks
3 17 Ingarfield, EarlEarl Ingarfield Centre Pittsburgh Penguins New York Rangers
3 18 Baun, BobBob Baun Defence California Seals Toronto Maple Leafs
4 19 Wall, BobBob Wall Defence Los Angeles Kings Detroit Red Wings
4 20 Cullen, RayRay Cullen Centre Minnesota North Stars Detroit Red Wings
4 21 Watson, JoeJoe Watson Defence Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
4 22 MacNeil, AlAl MacNeil Defence Pittsburgh Penguins New York Rangers
4 23 Douglas, KentKent Douglas Defence California Seals Toronto Maple Leafs
4 24 Picard, NoelNoel Picard Defence St. Louis Blues Montreal Canadiens
5 25 Joyal, EddieEddie Joyal Centre Los Angeles Kings Toronto Maple Leafs
5 26 Woytowich, BobBob Woytowich Defence Minnesota North Stars Boston Bruins
5 27 Selby, BritBrit Selby Left wing Philadelphia Flyers Toronto Maple Leafs
5 28 Jeffrey, LarryLarry Jeffrey Left wing Pittsburgh Penguins Toronto Maple Leafs
5 29 Hicke, BillBill Hicke Right wing California Seals New York Rangers
5 30 Arbour, AlAl Arbour Defence St. Louis Blues Toronto Maple Leafs
6 31 Lemieux, RealReal Lemieux Right wing Los Angeles Kings Detroit Red Wings
6 32 Talbot, Jean-GuyJean-Guy Talbot Defence Minnesota North Stars Montreal Canadiens
6 33 Angotti, LouLou Angotti Right wing Philadelphia Flyers Chicago Black Hawks
6 34 McDonald, AbAb McDonald Left wing Pittsburgh Penguins Detroit Red Wings
6 35 Harris, BillyBilly Harris Centre California Seals Detroit Red Wings
6 36 Seiling, RodRod Seiling Defence St. Louis Blues New York Rangers
7 37 Popiel, PoulPoul Popiel Defence Los Angeles Kings Boston Bruins
7 38 Connelly, WayneWayne Connelly Right wing Minnesota North Stars Boston Bruins
7 39 Rochefort, LeonLeon Rochefort Forward Philadelphia Flyers Montreal Canadiens
7 40 Boivin, LeoLeo Boivin Defence Pittsburgh Penguins Detroit Red Wings
7 41 Cahan, LarryLarry Cahan Defence California Seals New York Rangers
7 42 Schock, RonRon Schock Centre St. Louis Blues Boston Bruins
8 43 Gray, TerryTerry Gray Right wing Los Angeles Kings Detroit Red Wings
8 44 Taylor, TedTed Taylor Left wing Minnesota North Stars Detroit Red Wings
8 45 Blackburn, DonDon Blackburn Left wing Philadelphia Flyers Toronto Maple Leafs
8 46 Price, NoelNoel Price Defence Pittsburgh Penguins Montreal Canadiens
8 47 Boyer, WallyWally Boyer Centre California Seals Chicago Black Hawks
8 48 Crisp, TerryTerry Crisp Centre St. Louis Blues Boston Bruins
9 49 Campbell, BryanBryan Campbell Centre Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers
9 50 Goegan, PetePete Goegan Defence Minnesota North Stars Detroit Red Wings
9 51 Miszuk, JohnJohn Miszuk Defence Philadelphia Flyers Chicago Black Hawks
9 52 McCreary, KeithKeith McCreary Left wing Pittsburgh Penguins Montreal Canadiens
9 53 Szura, JoeJoe Szura Centre California Seals Montreal Canadiens
9 54 McKenney, DonDon McKenney Centre St. Louis Blues Detroit Red Wings
10 55 Irvine, TedTed Irvine Left wing Los Angeles Kings Boston Bruins
10 56 Lunde, LenLen Lunde Left wing Minnesota North Stars Chicago Black Hawks
10 57 Peters, GarryGarry Peters Centre Philadelphia Flyers Montreal Canadiens
10 58 Schinkel, KenKen Schinkel Right wing Pittsburgh Penguins New York Rangers
10 59 Lemieux, BobBob Lemieux Defence California Seals Montreal Canadiens
10 60 Rivers, WayneWayne Rivers Right wing St. Louis Blues Boston Bruins
11 61 Hughes, HowieHowie Hughes Right wing Los Angeles Kings Montreal Canadiens
11 62 Goldsworthy, BillBill Goldsworthy Right wing Minnesota North Stars Boston Bruins
11 63 Cherry, DickDick Cherry Defence Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
11 64 Dillabough, BobBob Dillabough Centre Pittsburgh Penguins Boston Bruins
11 65 Parise, J.P.J.P. Parise Left wing California Seals Boston Bruins
11 66 Hay, BillBill Hay Centre St. Louis Blues Chicago Black Hawks
12 67 Inglis, BillBill Inglis Centre Los Angeles Kings Montreal Canadiens
12 68 Pronovost, AndreAndre Pronovost Left wing Minnesota North Stars Detroit Red Wings
12 69 Gauthier, JeanJean Gauthier Defence Philadelphia Flyers Montreal Canadiens
12 70 Stratton, ArtArt Stratton Centre Pittsburgh Penguins Chicago Black Hawks
12 71 Harris, RonRon Harris Defence California Seals Boston Bruins
12 72 Edestrand, DarrylDarryl Edestrand Defence St. Louis Blues Toronto Maple Leafs
13 73 Robinson, DougDoug Robinson Left wing Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers
13 74 Vasko, ElmerElmer Vasko Defence Minnesota North Stars Chicago Black Hawks
13 75 Johnson, JimJim Johnson Centre Philadelphia Flyers New York Rangers
13 76 Fonteyne, ValVal Fonteyne Left wing Pittsburgh Penguins Detroit Red Wings
13 77 Clancy, TerryTerry Clancy Right wing California Seals Toronto Maple Leafs
13 78 Beaudin, NormNorm Beaudin Right wing St. Louis Blues Detroit Red Wings
14 79 Corrigan, MikeMike Corrigan Left wing Los Angeles Kings Toronto Maple Leafs
14 80 Hall, MurrayMurray Hall Right wing Minnesota North Stars Chicago Black Hawks
14 81 Dornhoefer, GaryGary Dornhoefer Right wing Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
14 82 Gilbert, JeannotJeannot Gilbert Centre Pittsburgh Penguins Boston Bruins
14 83 Pratt, TracyTracy Pratt Defence California Seals Chicago Black Hawks
14 84 Keenan, LarryLarry Keenan Left wing St. Louis Blues Toronto Maple Leafs
15 85 Lemieux, JacquesJacques Lemieux Defence Los Angeles Kings Montreal Canadiens
15 86 Watson, BryanBryan Watson Defence Minnesota North Stars Detroit Red Wings
15 87 Kennedy, ForbesForbes Kennedy Centre Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
15 88 McCarthy, TomTom McCarthy Left wing Pittsburgh Penguins Montreal Canadiens
15 89 Erickson, AutAut Erickson Defence California Seals Toronto Maple Leafs
15 90 Stewart, RonRon Stewart Centre St. Louis Blues Boston Bruins
16 91 MacDonald, LowellLowell MacDonald Right wing Los Angeles Kings Toronto Maple Leafs
16 92 Collins, BillBill Collins Centre Minnesota North Stars New York Rangers
16 93 Hannigan, PatPat Hannigan Left wing Philadelphia Flyers Chicago Black Hawks
16 94 Dea, BillyBilly Dea Centre Pittsburgh Penguins Chicago Black Hawks
16 95 Boehm, RonRon Boehm Left wing California Seals New York Rangers
16 96 Hucul, FredFred Hucul Defence St. Louis Blues Toronto Maple Leafs
17 97 Block, KenKen Block Defence Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers
17 98 Fitzpatrick, SandySandy Fitzpatrick Centre Minnesota North Stars New York Rangers
17 99 Carruthers, DwightDwight Carruthers Defence Philadelphia Flyers Detroit Red Wings
17 100 Rivard, BobbyBobby Rivard Centre Pittsburgh Penguins Montreal Canadiens
17 101 Caron, AlainAlain Caron Right wing California Seals Chicago Black Hawks
17 102 Brenneman, JohnJohn Brenneman Left wing St. Louis Blues Toronto Maple Leafs
18 103 {{sortname|Bill|Flett} Right wing Los Angeles Kings Toronto Maple Leafs
18 104 MacDonald, ParkerParker MacDonald Left wing Minnesota North Stars Detroit Red Wings
18 105 Courcy, BobBob Courcy Centre Philadelphia Flyers Montreal Canadiens
18 106 Pearson, MelMel Pearson Centre Pittsburgh Penguins Chicago Black Hawks
18 107 Laughton, MikeMike Laughton Centre California Seals Toronto Maple Leafs
18 108 Melnyk, GerryGerry Melnyk Centre St. Louis Blues Chicago Black Hawks
19 109 Hughes, BrentBrent Hughes Defence Los Angeles Kings Detroit Red Wings
19 110 Taylor, BillyBilly Taylor Centre Minnesota North Stars Chicago Black Hawks
19 111 Wright, KeithKeith Wright Right wing Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins
19 112 Bathgate, AndyAndy Bathgate Centre Pittsburgh Penguins Detroit Red Wings
19 113 Hextall, BryanBryan Hextall Forward California Seals New York Rangers
19 114 Veneruzzo, GaryGary Veneruzzo Left wing St. Louis Blues Toronto Maple Leafs
20 115 Dufour, MarcMarc Dufour Right wing Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers
20 116 Richardson, DaveDave Richardson Left wing Minnesota North Stars Chicago Black Hawks
20 117 Ball, TerryTerry Ball Defence Philadelphia Flyers New York Rangers
20 118 Hunt, LesLes Hunt Defence Pittsburgh Penguins New York Rangers
20 119 Kilpatrick, GaryGary Kilpatrick Defence California Seals Chicago Black Hawks
20 120 Mestinsek, MaxMax Mestinsek Right wing St. Louis Blues New York Rangers
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