KHL Junior Draft
# KHL Junior Draft

The KHL Junior Draft was an annual meeting in which every franchise of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) systematically selected the rights to available amateur ice hockey players who met draft eligibility requirements (17–21 years old, no active KHL, MHL or VHL contract). The KHL Junior Draft was held once every year, generally within two to three months after the conclusion of the previous season. During the draft, teams took turns selecting amateur players from junior, collegiate, or European leagues.

The first draft was held on June 1, 2009, prior to the second KHL season, and was held every year until it was ended in 2016. Mikhail Pashnin, drafted by CSKA Moscow, was the first player to be drafted in the KHL Junior Draft. The first KHL Junior Draft held had only 85 drafted players, but with 188 players in the 2010 Draft the number of drafted players that year was more than doubled. However, the number of drafted players decreased in the 2011 Draft, with 134 drafted players. The peak count came in 2014 when 208 players were drafted. Overall, over the 8 years, 1,241 players were drafted, giving an average of 155 drafted players per year.

## Eligible players

All European or North American players who were 17 years old and not older than 21 years old, and did not have any active contracts with a KHL, MHL or VHL team, were eligible for selection for that year's KHL Junior Draft.

## Drafting order

The teams with the three worst regular-season records (or a team involved in a trade with such a team where a draft pick was included in the trade and, if applicable, a KHL team afflicted by a disaster during the season) were eligible to take part in a lottery whose aim was to decide the first three (or four, depending on circumstances) picks.

## List of KHL Junior Drafts

| Draft | Location | City | Date | Total drafted | #1 pick |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2009 | Gazprom Export HQ | Moscow, Russia | June 1, 2009 | 91 | Mikhail Pashnin (CSKA Moscow) |
| 2010 | KHL HQ | Moscow, Russia | June 4, 2010 | 188 | Dmitrij Jaškin (Sibir Novosibirsk) |
| 2011 | Mytishchi Arena | Mytishchi, Russia | May 28, 2011 | 134 | Anton Slepyshev (Metallurg Novokuznetsk) |
| 2012 | Traktor Sport Palace | Chelyabinsk, Russia | May 25, 2012 and May 26, 2012 | 166 | Denis Alexandrov (SKA Saint Petersburg) |
| 2013 | Druzhba Arena | Donetsk, Ukraine | May 25, 2013 and May 26, 2013 | 174 | Dmitri Osipov (Amur Khabarovsk) |
| 2014 | Ice Palace | Saint Petersburg, Russia | May 8, 2014 | 208 | Kirill Kaprizov (Metallurg Novokuznetsk) |
| 2015 | VTB Ice Palace | Moscow, Russia | May 24, 2015 | 133 | Artyom Maltsev (HC Sochi) |
| 2016 | Renaissance Moscow Monarch Center Hotel | Moscow, Russia | May 23, 2016 | 147 | Venyamin Baranov (Admiral Vladivostok) |
