The 1969 NHL Amateur Draft was the seventh NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. This draft is notable for being the first NHL draft to be conducted after the league ended direct sponsorship of junior hockey.
The 1970 NHL Amateur Draft was the eighth NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 11, 1970, the day after the 1970 Expansion Draft, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.
The 1971 NHL Amateur Draft was the ninth NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 10, 1971, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.
The 1972 NHL Amateur Draft was the tenth NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.
The 1983 NHL Entry Draft was the 21st NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, on June 8, 1983. The NHL Entry Draft is the primary means by which players arrive in the National Hockey League. The St. Louis Blues did not participate in this draft, shortly after the league blocked the franchise's relocation to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This was the only time in National Hockey League history that a franchise did not participate in an entry draft. This was also the last time a playoff team picked first overall until 2020, when the New York Rangers won the first selection.
The 1984 NHL Entry Draft was the 22nd NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 9, 1984, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec.
The 1989 NHL Entry Draft was the 27th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 17 at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Detroit Red Wings' 1989 draft has been noted as exceptionally successful, with 5,955 total NHL games played by the players selected.
The 1986 NHL Entry Draft was the 24th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 21, 1986, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the reverse order of the 1985–86 NHL season and playoff standings.
The 1980 NHL Entry Draft was the 18th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Montreal Forum. This was the first time that an NHL arena hosted the draft. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 210 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the reverse order of the 1979–80 NHL season and playoff standings. This is the list of those players selected. The minimum draft age was lowered from 19 to 18, but prospective draftees had to be of age by September 15 rather than any date in the relevant birth year.
The 1981 NHL Entry Draft was the 19th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 211 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the reverse order of the 1980–81 NHL season and playoff standings. This is the list of those players selected.
The 1985 NHL Entry Draft was the 23rd NHL Entry Draft. It was the first draft outside Montreal. The event was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and attended by 7,000 fans. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the reverse order of the 1984–85 NHL season and playoff standings.
The 1978 NHL Amateur Draft was the 16th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, on June 15, 1978. It was the last draft to be called the "Amateur Draft" before the process was renamed to the NHL Entry Draft in 1979.
The 1974 NHL Amateur Draft was the 12th NHL Entry Draft. It was held via conference call at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec. In an effort to prevent the WHA from poaching players, the draft was conducted early and in secret. This failed to prevent tampering as information leaked out via agents and other sources over the three days of the draft. As a statement of frustration at the slow, secretive conference call format, Buffalo General Manager Punch Imlach claimed "Taro Tsujimoto" of the "Tokyo Katanas" of Japan using the 183rd overall pick. NHL officials immediately validated the selection, but weeks later Imlach admitted that Tsujimoto was a fabrication. The selection was ruled invalid by the NHL and removed from their records.
The 1975 NHL Amateur Draft was the 13th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers made the most noise at the draft, trading Bill Clement, Don McLean, and the 18th overall pick to the Washington Capitals for the number one overall selection, which they used to select Mel Bridgman. Later in round nine the Flyers became the first NHL team to select a Soviet-born and trained player in the amateur draft, selecting Latvian Viktor Khatulev 160th pick overall.
The 1977 NHL Amateur Draft was the 15th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. It was notable for the inclusion of players being drafted at 20 years of age.
The 2010 NHL Entry Draft was the 48th NHL Entry Draft, held on June 25–26, 2010 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, home arena of the Los Angeles Kings. This was the first time Los Angeles hosted the NHL Entry Draft. An unofficial record of eleven American-trained players were selected in the first round, starting with Jack Campbell and ending with Brock Nelson. The record was set in the 2006 and 2007 drafts, where ten U.S.-trained players were selected in the first round.
The 2011 NHL Entry Draft was the 49th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 24–25, 2011, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was the first time the Draft was held in the state of Minnesota since the Minnesota North Stars hosted the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. The top three picks consisted of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins going to the Edmonton Oilers, Gabriel Landeskog going to the Colorado Avalanche, and Jonathan Huberdeau going to the Florida Panthers.
The 2015 NHL Entry Draft was the 53rd NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 26–27, 2015, at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. The first three selections were Connor McDavid going to the Edmonton Oilers, Jack Eichel going to the Buffalo Sabres, and Dylan Strome going to the Arizona Coyotes.
The 2020 NHL Entry Draft was the 58th NHL Entry Draft, held from October 6–7, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was held in a remote format, with teams convening via videoconferencing, and Commissioner Gary Bettman announcing the selections in the opening round and deputy commissioner Bill Daly in all subsequent rounds from the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The 1976 NHL Amateur Draft was the 14th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec, on June 1, 1976. It's notable as featuring one of the weakest first rounds in draft history, as only two players played more than 450 career NHL games. In 2002, Federko was elected into the Hockey Hall-of-Fame after playing fourteen seasons (1976–1990), with 13 of those with the St. Louis Blues. The Cleveland Barons drafted as the California Golden Seals and the Colorado Rockies took part as the Kansas City Scouts. The two franchises would relocate to their new cities on July 15 of that year.
Denis Potvin 
