NHL intra-league draft

One of the most consequential selections in the NHL intra-league draft occurred in 1969 when the Chicago Black Hawks selected goaltender Tony Esposito from the Montreal Canadiens. Esposito played the rest of his career with Chicago, winning three Vezina Trophies and earning induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.

The NHL intra-league was an annual draft held by the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1952 to 1975. The intra-league draft was created to help address the league’s competitive balance issues during the Original Six era, as the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs were the only teams to win the Stanley Cup in the ten years preceding the draft’s inception.[1] It had an inauspicious start as the first two drafts featured no players being selected, and after the third saw only one player selected, the fourth draft wasn’t even held due to unanimous agreement among the six NHL teams that none of the available players was worth drafting.[1] Eventually more players started being selected in the intra-league draft and, with the exception of 1967 when the NHL expanded in size from six to twelve teams, it was held every year through 1975. It was not held in 1976 and was replaced by the NHL waiver draft in 1977.[2]

  1. ^ a b Parsons, Mark (April 6, 2013). "The Genesis of the NHL Intra-League Draft". Historical Hockey Stats & Trivia. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  2. ^ Parsons, Mark (November 8, 2013). "The NHL Waiver Draft — Origins and The Rules". Historical Hockey Stats & Trivia. Retrieved March 31, 2023.