NHL Entry Draft


The NHL Entry Draft is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirements. The NHL Entry Draft is held once every year, generally within two to three months after the conclusion of the previous season. During the draft, teams take turns selecting amateur players from junior or collegiate leagues and professional players from European leagues.
The first draft was held in 1963, and has been held every year since. The NHL Entry Draft was known as the NHL Amateur Draft until 1979. The entry draft has only been a public event since 1980, and a televised event since 1984. Up to 1994, the order was solely determined by the standings at the end of the regular season. In 1995, the NHL Draft Lottery was introduced where only teams who had missed the playoffs could participate. The lottery winner moved up the draft order a maximum of four places, meaning only the five worst teams, based on regular season points in a given season, could pick first in the draft, and no team in the non-playoff group could move down more than one place. The chances of winning the lottery were weighted towards the teams at the bottom of the regular season standings. Beginning in 2013, the limit of moving up a maximum of four places in the draft order was eliminated, so the lottery winner would automatically receive the first overall pick, and any teams above it in the draft order would still move down one spot.

History

The first NHL Entry Draft was held on June 5, 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. In 1967, NHL president Clarence Campbell and Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Fred Page announced a new tentative five-year agreement on August 19, 1966, with several proposed changes to the existing system, effective July 1, 1967. The direct sponsorship of junior teams by the NHL was to be phased out in the upcoming year, and no new sponsored players could be registered or be required to sign a contract restricting movement between teams. The agreement eliminated the A, B and C forms, which had angered the parents of amateur players and were the source of legal action threats when the professional team refused to release a player. Junior-aged players became eligible for the draft once they graduate from junior hockey, or to be signed as a free agent in the year the player reaches his 20th birthday. The NHL agreed to pay development fees to the CAHA for the drafted players. The new agreement came at a time that also leveled the playing field for new NHL clubs in the 1967 NHL expansion.
In 1979, the rules were changed allowing players who had previously played professionally to be drafted. This rule change was made to facilitate the absorption of players from the defunct World Hockey Association. Consequently, the name of the draft was changed from "NHL Amateur Draft" to "NHL Entry Draft". Beginning in 1980, any player who is between the ages of 18 and 20 is eligible to be drafted. In addition, any non-North American player over the age of 20 can be selected. From 1987 through 1991, 18 and 19-year-old players could only be drafted in the first three rounds unless they met another criterion of experience which required them to have played in major junior, U.S. college and high school, or European hockey.
In 1980, the Entry Draft became a public event, and was held at the Montreal Forum. Prior to that year the Entry Draft was conducted in Montreal hotels or league offices and was closed to the general public. The first draft outside of Montreal was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, in 1985. Live television coverage of the draft began in 1984 when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation covered the event in both English and French for Canadian audiences. The 1987 Entry Draft, held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, was the first NHL Draft to be held in the United States. SportsChannel America began covering the event in the United States in 1989.
Prior to the development of the Draft, NHL teams sponsored junior teams, and signed prospects in their teens to the junior teams. Players were signed to one of three forms: the "A" form, which committed a player to a tryout; a "B" form, which gave the team an option to sign a player in return for a bonus; and the "C" form, which committed a player's professional rights. The "C" form could only be signed by the player at age eighteen or by the player's parents, often in exchange for some signing bonus. The first drafts were held to assign players who had not signed with an NHL organization before the sponsorship of junior teams was discontinued after 1968.

Selection order and draft lottery

The selection order in the NHL Entry Draft is determined by a combination of lottery, regular season standing, and playoff results. While teams are permitted to trade draft picks both during the draft and prior to it, in all cases, the selection order of the draft picks is based on the original holder of the pick, not a team which may have acquired the pick via a trade or other means. The order of picks discussed in this section always references the original team.
The basic order of the NHL Entry Draft is determined based on the standings of the teams in the previous season. As with the other major sports leagues, the basic draft order is intended to favour the teams with the weakest performance who presumably need the most improvement in their roster to compete with the other teams. Subject to the results of the NHL Draft Lottery, the teams pick in the same order each round, with each team getting one pick per round.
The basic order of the picks is determined as follows:
  1. The teams that did not qualify for the playoffs the previous season
  2. The teams that made the playoffs in the previous season but did not win either their division in the regular season or play in the Conference Finals
  3. The teams that won their divisions in the previous season but did not play in the Conference Finals
  4. The teams that lose in Conference Finals
  5. The team that was the runner-up in the Stanley Cup Finals
  6. The team that won the Stanley Cup in the previous season
The number of teams in the second and third group depends on whether the Conference finalists also won their division. The teams in each group are ordered within that group based on their point totals in the preceding regular season. Tie-breakers are governed by the same rules used to determine ties in the regular season standings. The order of picks 1–15 may change during the first round of the draft based on the results of the NHL Draft lottery. In the subsequent rounds, the basic order based on point totals is used.
When teams lose their rights to a first-round draft choice, because that player was not signed to a contract and consequently re-entered the entry draft or became an unrestricted free agent, they are awarded a compensatory draft pick. This selection will be the same numerical choice as the first round draft pick who was not signed, but in the second round. For example, if a team cannot sign the seventh overall first round draft choice, it will receive the seventh pick in the second round of the next draft as compensation.

Draft lottery

At the conclusion of the regular season, the 15 teams that did not qualify for the playoffs are entered in a weighted lottery to determine the initial draft picks in the first round. The teams are seeded in the basic draft order based on their regular season point totals. The odds of winning the lottery are weighted on a descending scale that gives the greatest chance of winning to the team with the lowest point total, and the worst chance to the team with the highest point total.
The prize for winning the draft lottery is to be upgraded to pick first in the first round of the draft, with each team that preceded the winner in the basic draft order bumped one pick lower. For example, if the team with the 5th worst point total wins the lottery, it would pick first, and the teams with the worst through 4th-worst records would pick second through fifth. The remaining teams would be unaffected. The teams would return to the basic order for the second and all subsequent rounds.
From its inception through 2015, there was one winner of the lottery; from 1995 to 2012, the team that won the draft lottery moved up no more than four positions in the draft order. If the winner of the lottery was among the five worst teams in a given season, that team won the first pick in the draft. Otherwise, the team will move up no more than four spots, and that team will not receive the first pick in the draft; from 2013–2015 the lottery winner received the first pick overall regardless of regular season point totals amongst the non-playoff teams. Beginning with the 2016 draft, the first three selections are determined by the lottery. Any team that does not make the playoffs has a weighted chance to select in the first, second or third slot. The remaining teams maintain their order of selection based on the points accrued the previous season. As the top three slots are determined by the lottery, no team can drop more than three places from the position established based on previous season point totals.
The NHL Draft Lottery takes place just before or during the Stanley Cup playoffs and is hosted at Sportsnet's studios in Toronto from 2015 onwards. From 2006 to 2014, the draft lottery took place at TSN's studios in Toronto. The odds for the first overall pick are determined as follows:
;
Finish in
previous season		1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th
30th25.0%21.2%17.2%36.6%
29th18.8%17.8%16.3%33.2%13.9%
28th14.2%14.4%14.3%22.0%29.7%5.4%
27th10.7%9.7%9.8%3.2%27.3%33.2%7.4%
26th8.1%8.8%9.0%9.1%35.5%25.5%3.7%
25th6.2%7.8%8.1%17.5%39.3%17.9%1.7%
24th4.7%6.9%7.2%27.9%39.1%11.7%0.7%
23rd3.6%6.4%6.8%39.2%34.8%6.6%0.3%
22nd2.7%5.4%5.8%51.8%28.6%3.4%0.1%
21st2.1%3.8%4.2%64.0%22.8%1.6%0.1%
20th1.5%3.3%3.6%73.5%15.9%0.6%0.1%
19th1.1%2.7%3.0%82.3%9.2%0.1%
18th0.8%2.2%2.4%90.1%3.2%
17th0.5%1.1%1.2%96.6%

Finish in
previous season		1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th
30th20.0%17.5%15.0%47.5%
29th13.5%13.1%12.5%35.2%25.8%
28th11.5%11.4%11.3%14.2%37.8%13.8%
27th9.5%9.7%9.8%3.15%27.3%33.2%7.4%
26th8.5%8.8%9.0%9.1%35.5%25.5%3.7%
25th7.5%7.8%8.1%17.5%39.3%17.9%1.7%
24th6.5%6.9%7.2%27.9%39.1%11.7%0.7%
23rd6.0%6.4%6.8%39.2%34.8%6.6%0.3%
22nd5.0%5.4%5.8%51.8%28.6%3.4%0.1%
21st3.5%3.8%4.2%64.0%22.8%1.6%0.1%
20th3.0%3.3%3.6%73.5%15.9%0.6%0.1%
19th2.5%2.7%3.0%82.3%9.2%0.1%
18th2.0%2.2%2.4%90.1%3.2%
17th1.0%1.1%1.2%96.6%

Finish in
previous season		1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th
31st18.5%16.5%14.4%50.6%
30th13.5%13.0%12.3%33.3%27.9%
29th11.5%11.3%11.1%13.2%37.7%15.2%
28th9.5%9.6%9.7%2.8%26.1%34.0%8.3%
27th8.5%8.7%8.9%8.4%34.5%26.7%4.3%
26th7.5%7.8%8.0%16.3%38.9%19.4%2.1%
25th6.5%6.8%7.1%26.0%39.5%13.1%1.0%
24th6.0%6.3%6.7%36.8%36.0%7.8%0.4%
23rd5.0%5.3%5.7%48.8%30.7%4.3%0.1%
22nd3.5%3.8%4.1%60.5%25.7%2.4%<0.1%
21st3.0%3.3%3.6%69.6%19.4%1.1%<0.1%
20th2.5%2.7%3.0%78.0%13.3%0.4%<0.1%
19th2.0%2.2%2.4%85.5%7.8%0.1%
18th1.5%1.7%1.8%91.8%3.2%
17th1.0%1.1%1.2%96.7%

Eligible players

All players who will be 18 years old on or before September 15 and not older than 20 years old before December 31 of the draft year are eligible for selection for that year's NHL Entry Draft. In addition, non-North American players over the age of 20 are eligible.

List of NHL Entry Drafts

DraftLocationCityDateRoundsTotal drafted#1 pick
1963Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec421
1964Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec424
1965Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec311
1966Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec424
1967Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec318
1968Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec324
1969Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec1084
1970Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec13115
1971Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec15117
1972Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec11152
1973Mount Royal HotelMontreal, Quebec13168
1974NHL Montreal OfficeMontreal, Quebec25247
1975NHL Montreal OfficeMontreal, Quebec18217
1976NHL Montreal OfficeMontreal, Quebec15135
1977NHL Montreal OfficeMontreal, Quebec17185
1978Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec21234
1979Queen Elizabeth HotelMontreal, Quebec6126
1980Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec10210
1981Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec11211
1982Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec12252
1983Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec12242
1984Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec12250
1985Toronto Convention CentreToronto, Ontario12252
1986Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec12252
1987Joe Louis ArenaDetroit, Michigan12252
1988Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec12252
1989Met CenterBloomington, Minnesota12252
1990BC PlaceVancouver, British Columbia12250
1991Buffalo Memorial AuditoriumBuffalo, New York12264
1992Montreal ForumMontreal, Quebec11264
1993Colisée de QuébecQuebec City, QuebecJune 26–27, 199311286
1994Hartford Civic CenterHartford, Connecticut11286
1995Edmonton ColiseumEdmonton, Alberta9234
1996Kiel CenterSt. Louis, Missouri9241
1997Civic ArenaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania9246
1998Marine Midland ArenaBuffalo, New York9258
1999FleetCenterBoston, Massachusetts9272
2000Canadian Airlines SaddledomeCalgary, AlbertaJune 24–25, 20009293
2001National Car Rental CenterSunrise, FloridaJune 23–24, 20019289
2002Air Canada CentreToronto, OntarioJune 22–23, 20029290
2003Gaylord Entertainment CenterNashville, TennesseeJune 21–22, 20039292
2004RBC CenterRaleigh, North CarolinaJune 26–27, 20049291
2005Westin Hotel OttawaOttawa, Ontario7230
2006General Motors PlaceVancouver, British Columbia7213
2007Nationwide ArenaColumbus, OhioJune 22–23, 20077211
2008Scotiabank PlaceOttawa, OntarioJune 20–21, 20087211
2009Bell CentreMontreal, QuebecJune 26–27, 20097211
2010Staples CenterLos Angeles, CaliforniaJune 25–26, 20107210
2011Xcel Energy CenterSt. Paul, MinnesotaJune 24–25, 20117211
2012Consol Energy CenterPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaJune 22–23, 20127211
2013Prudential CenterNewark, New Jersey7211Nathan MacKinnon
2014Wells Fargo CenterPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaJune 27–28, 20147210Aaron Ekblad
2015BB&T CenterSunrise, FloridaJune 26–27, 20157211Connor McDavid
2016First Niagara CenterBuffalo, New YorkJune 24–25, 20167211Auston Matthews
2017United CenterChicago, IllinoisJune 23–24, 20177217Nico Hischier
2018American Airlines CenterDallas, TexasJune 22–23, 20187217Rasmus Dahlin
2019Rogers ArenaVancouver, British ColumbiaJune 21–22, 20197217Jack Hughes
2020TBDTBDTBD7217TBD