1967 NHL Expansion Draft
# 1967 NHL Expansion Draft

The 1967 NHL Expansion Draft was held on June 6, 1967, in the ballroom of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. The draft took place to fill the rosters of the league's six expansion teams for the 1967–68 season: the California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, 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 defencemen. 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, third, fourth, seventh and subsequent players lost by any of the established teams, 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.

## 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 1979–80 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.

| † | NHL All-Star |
| - | - |
| ‡ | NHL All-Star and NHL All-Star team |
| ↑ | Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame |
| Round | # | Player | Position | Drafted by | Selected from |
| 1 | 1 | Terry Sawchuk↑‡ | Goaltender | Los Angeles Kings | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 1 | 2 | Bernie Parent↑‡ | Goaltender | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins |
| 1 | 3 | Glenn Hall↑‡ | Goaltender | St. Louis Blues | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 1 | 4 | Cesare Maniago | Goaltender | Minnesota North Stars | New York Rangers |
| 1 | 5 | Joe Daley | Goaltender | Pittsburgh Penguins | Detroit Red Wings |
| 1 | 6 | Charlie Hodge‡ | Goaltender | California Seals | Montreal Canadiens |
| 2 | 7 | Wayne Rutledge | Goaltender | Los Angeles Kings | New York Rangers |
| 2 | 8 | Garry Bauman† | Goaltender | Minnesota North Stars | Montreal Canadiens |
| 2 | 9 | Doug Favell | Goaltender | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins |
| 2 | 10 | Roy Edwards | Goaltender | Pittsburgh Penguins | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 2 | 11 | Gary Smith† | Goaltender | California Seals | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 2 | 12 | Don Caley | Goaltender | St. Louis Blues | Detroit Red Wings |
| 3 | 13 | Gord Labossiere | Centre | Los Angeles Kings | Montreal Canadiens |
| 3 | 14 | Dave Balon† | Left wing | Minnesota North Stars | Montreal Canadiens |
| 3 | 15 | Jim Roberts† | Defence | St. Louis Blues | Montreal Canadiens |
| 3 | 16 | Ed Van Impe† | Defence | Philadelphia Flyers | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 3 | 17 | Earl Ingarfield | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | New York Rangers |
| 3 | 18 | Bob Baun† | Defence | California Seals | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 4 | 19 | Bob Wall | Defence | Los Angeles Kings | Detroit Red Wings |
| 4 | 20 | Ray Cullen | Centre | Minnesota North Stars | Detroit Red Wings |
| 4 | 21 | Joe Watson† | Defence | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins |
| 4 | 22 | Al MacNeil | Defence | Pittsburgh Penguins | New York Rangers |
| 4 | 23 | Kent Douglas† | Defence | California Seals | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 4 | 24 | Noel Picard† | Defence | St. Louis Blues | Montreal Canadiens |
| 5 | 25 | Eddie Joyal | Centre | Los Angeles Kings | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 5 | 26 | Bob Woytowich† | Defence | Minnesota North Stars | Boston Bruins |
| 5 | 27 | Brit Selby | Left wing | Philadelphia Flyers | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 5 | 28 | Larry Jeffrey | Left wing | Pittsburgh Penguins | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 5 | 29 | Bill Hicke† | Right wing | California Seals | New York Rangers |
| 5 | 30 | Al Arbour† | Defence | St. Louis Blues | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 6 | 31 | Real Lemieux | Right wing | Los Angeles Kings | Detroit Red Wings |
| 6 | 32 | Jean-Guy Talbot‡ | Defence | Minnesota North Stars | Montreal Canadiens |
| 6 | 33 | Lou Angotti | Right wing | Philadelphia Flyers | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 6 | 34 | Ab McDonald† | Left wing | Pittsburgh Penguins | Detroit Red Wings |
| 6 | 35 | Billy Harris† | Centre | California Seals | Detroit Red Wings |
| 6 | 36 | Rod Seiling† | Defence | St. Louis Blues | New York Rangers |
| 7 | 37 | Poul Popiel | Defence | Los Angeles Kings | Boston Bruins |
| 7 | 38 | Wayne Connelly | Right wing | Minnesota North Stars | Boston Bruins |
| 7 | 39 | Leon Rochefort† | Forward | Philadelphia Flyers | Montreal Canadiens |
| 7 | 40 | Leo Boivin↑† | Defence | Pittsburgh Penguins | Detroit Red Wings |
| 7 | 41 | Larry Cahan | Defence | California Seals | New York Rangers |
| 7 | 42 | Ron Schock | Centre | St. Louis Blues | Boston Bruins |
| 8 | 43 | Terry Gray | Right wing | Los Angeles Kings | Detroit Red Wings |
| 8 | 44 | Ted Taylor | Left wing | Minnesota North Stars | Detroit Red Wings |
| 8 | 45 | Don Blackburn | Left wing | Philadelphia Flyers | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 8 | 46 | Noel Price† | Defence | Pittsburgh Penguins | Montreal Canadiens |
| 8 | 47 | Wally Boyer | Centre | California Seals | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 8 | 48 | Terry Crisp | Centre | St. Louis Blues | Boston Bruins |
| 9 | 49 | Bryan Campbell | Centre | Los Angeles Kings | New York Rangers |
| 9 | 50 | Pete Goegan | Defence | Minnesota North Stars | Detroit Red Wings |
| 9 | 51 | John Miszuk | Defence | Philadelphia Flyers | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 9 | 52 | Keith McCreary | Left wing | Pittsburgh Penguins | Montreal Canadiens |
| 9 | 53 | Joe Szura | Centre | California Seals | Montreal Canadiens |
| 9 | 54 | Don McKenney† | Centre | St. Louis Blues | Detroit Red Wings |
| 10 | 55 | Ted Irvine | Left wing | Los Angeles Kings | Boston Bruins |
| 10 | 56 | Len Lunde | Left wing | Minnesota North Stars | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 10 | 57 | Garry Peters | Centre | Philadelphia Flyers | Montreal Canadiens |
| 10 | 58 | Ken Schinkel† | Right wing | Pittsburgh Penguins | New York Rangers |
| 10 | 59 | Bob Lemieux | Defence | California Seals | Montreal Canadiens |
| 10 | 60 | Wayne Rivers | Right wing | St. Louis Blues | Boston Bruins |
| 11 | 61 | Howie Hughes | Right wing | Los Angeles Kings | Montreal Canadiens |
| 11 | 62 | Bill Goldsworthy† | Right wing | Minnesota North Stars | Boston Bruins |
| 11 | 63 | Dick Cherry | Defence | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins |
| 11 | 64 | Bob Dillabough | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | Boston Bruins |
| 11 | 65 | J. P. Parise† | Left wing | California Seals | Boston Bruins |
| 11 | 66 | Bill Hay† | Centre | St. Louis Blues | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 12 | 67 | Bill Inglis | Centre | Los Angeles Kings | Montreal Canadiens |
| 12 | 68 | Andre Pronovost† | Left wing | Minnesota North Stars | Detroit Red Wings |
| 12 | 69 | Jean Gauthier | Defence | Philadelphia Flyers | Montreal Canadiens |
| 12 | 70 | Art Stratton | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 12 | 71 | Ron Harris | Defence | California Seals | Boston Bruins |
| 12 | 72 | Darryl Edestrand | Defence | St. Louis Blues | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 13 | 73 | Doug Robinson | Left wing | Los Angeles Kings | New York Rangers |
| 13 | 74 | Elmer Vasko‡ | Defence | Minnesota North Stars | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 13 | 75 | Jim Johnson | Centre | Philadelphia Flyers | New York Rangers |
| 13 | 76 | Val Fonteyne | Left wing | Pittsburgh Penguins | Detroit Red Wings |
| 13 | 77 | Terry Clancy | Right wing | California Seals | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 13 | 78 | Norm Beaudin | Right wing | St. Louis Blues | Detroit Red Wings |
| 14 | 79 | Mike Corrigan | Left wing | Los Angeles Kings | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 14 | 80 | Murray Hall† | Right wing | Minnesota North Stars | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 14 | 81 | Gary Dornhoefer† | Right wing | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins |
| 14 | 82 | Jeannot Gilbert | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | Boston Bruins |
| 14 | 83 | Tracy Pratt† | Defence | California Seals | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 14 | 84 | Larry Keenan | Left wing | St. Louis Blues | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 15 | 85 | Jacques Lemieux | Defence | Los Angeles Kings | Montreal Canadiens |
| 15 | 86 | Bryan Watson | Defence | Minnesota North Stars | Detroit Red Wings |
| 15 | 87 | Forbes Kennedy | Centre | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins |
| 15 | 88 | Tom McCarthy | Left wing | Pittsburgh Penguins | Montreal Canadiens |
| 15 | 89 | Aut Erickson | Defence | California Seals | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 15 | 90 | Ron Stewart† | Centre | St. Louis Blues | Boston Bruins |
| 16 | 91 | Lowell MacDonald† | Right wing | Los Angeles Kings | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 16 | 92 | Bill Collins | Centre | Minnesota North Stars | New York Rangers |
| 16 | 93 | Pat Hannigan | Left wing | Philadelphia Flyers | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 16 | 94 | Billy Dea | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 16 | 95 | Ron Boehm | Left wing | California Seals | New York Rangers |
| 16 | 96 | Fred Hucul | Defence | St. Louis Blues | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 17 | 97 | Ken Block | Defence | Los Angeles Kings | New York Rangers |
| 17 | 98 | Sandy Fitzpatrick | Centre | Minnesota North Stars | New York Rangers |
| 17 | 99 | Dwight Carruthers | Defence | Philadelphia Flyers | Detroit Red Wings |
| 17 | 100 | Bobby Rivard | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | Montreal Canadiens |
| 17 | 101 | Alain Caron | Right wing | California Seals | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 17 | 102 | John Brenneman | Left wing | St. Louis Blues | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 18 | 103 | Bill Flett† | Right wing | Los Angeles Kings | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 18 | 104 | Parker MacDonald | Left wing | Minnesota North Stars | Detroit Red Wings |
| 18 | 105 | Bob Courcy | Centre | Philadelphia Flyers | Montreal Canadiens |
| 18 | 106 | Mel Pearson | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 18 | 107 | Mike Laughton | Centre | California Seals | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 18 | 108 | Gerry Melnyk† | Centre | St. Louis Blues | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 19 | 109 | Brent Hughes | Defence | Los Angeles Kings | Detroit Red Wings |
| 19 | 110 | Billy Taylor | Centre | Minnesota North Stars | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 19 | 111 | Keith Wright | Right wing | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins |
| 19 | 112 | Andy Bathgate↑‡ | Centre | Pittsburgh Penguins | Detroit Red Wings |
| 19 | 113 | Bryan Hextall | Forward | California Seals | New York Rangers |
| 19 | 114 | Gary Veneruzzo | Left wing | St. Louis Blues | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 20 | 115 | Marc Dufour | Right wing | Los Angeles Kings | New York Rangers |
| 20 | 116 | Dave Richardson | Left wing | Minnesota North Stars | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 20 | 117 | Terry Ball | Defence | Philadelphia Flyers | New York Rangers |
| 20 | 118 | Les Hunt | Defence | Pittsburgh Penguins | New York Rangers |
| 20 | 119 | Gary Kilpatrick | Defence | California Seals | Chicago Black Hawks |
| 20 | 120 | Max Mestinsek | Right wing | St. Louis Blues | New York Rangers |
