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The stage of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft

The NHL Entry Draft is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available amateur ice hockey players who meet the eligibility requirements to play professional hockey in the NHL. 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, collegiate, or 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" up until 1979. The entry draft has only been a public event since 1980, and a televised event since 1984.^[1] The first pick of the draft goes to the team that wins the NHL Draft Lottery, held prior to the event. The draft lottery also places the order for picks two through fourteen. The remaining draft picks are ordered at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup playoffs.^[2][3]

History

The first NHL Entry Draft (then known as the "NHL Amateur Draft") was held on June 5, 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.^[1] Any amateur player that was 17 years of age or older who was not already sponsored by an NHL club was eligible to be drafted. In 1969, the rules were changed so that any amateur player under the age of 20 was eligible to be drafted. In 1979, the rules were again 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.^[1][4]

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.^[1] The first draft outside of Montreal was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, in 1985.^[5] 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. SportsChannel America began covering the event in the United States in 1989.^[1]

Selection order and Draft lottery

The selection order in the Entry Draft is determined by a combination of lottery, regular season standing, and playoff results. However, teams are permitted to trade draft picks. In all cases, the team considered is the original holder of the draft pick, not a team which may have acquired the pick via a trade or other means.^[2][3]

At the conclusion of the regular season, the 14 NHL teams not qualifying for the playoffs are entered in a weighted lottery to determine the initial draft picks in each round, seeded according to regular season standing. The 30th-place team has a 25% chance of winning the lottery, with odds diminishing to a 0.5% chance for the 17th-place team. A single selection from the lottery pool is made, with the winning team eligible to improve its draft order by up to four places, and no team eligible to drop more than one place. Therefore, only the 26th through 30th place teams are eligible to receive the first draft pick.^[6][7] Consequently, the 30th place team's chance of retaining the first overall pick improves to 48.2%.^[2]

The remaining order is determined by the Stanley Cup playoff results.^[7] Whichever team wins the Stanley Cup is awarded the 30th and last pick, while the runner-up is given the 29th pick. The teams eliminated in the conference finals are awarded the 28th and 27th picks, with the 28th pick going to the team with the better regular season record. Remaining division winners, then wildcard teams are ranked next, filling in the 26th through 15th picks. In both cases, better records result in later picks.^[3]

List of NHL Entry Drafts

References

General

• "Entry Draft Historic First selections". National Hockey League. http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=31886. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 

• "Entry Draft Historic Locations". National Hockey League. http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=31885. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 

• "2009 Drafted Players". National Hockey League. http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftsearch.htm?year=2009. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 

• "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. http://www.nhl.com/futures/drafthistory.html. Retrieved 2009-07-02. 

Specific

See also

• List of NHL first overall draft choices
• List of NHL players
• List of undrafted NHL players