NHL entry draft
The NHL Entry Draft is an annual selection process in which the 32 teams of the National Hockey League (NHL) take turns choosing the exclusive rights to amateur ice hockey players who meet eligibility criteria, allowing those teams to build their future rosters with young talent from major junior leagues, collegiate programs, European competitions, and other amateur circuits.[1] Held typically over two days in late June, the draft features seven rounds of selections, starting with the first overall pick and proceeding through 224 total choices, after which undrafted eligible players become unrestricted free agents.[2] The draft originated in 1963 as the NHL Amateur Draft, a response to the league's expansion from six to twelve teams and the need to distribute emerging talent more equitably beyond traditional scouting networks dominated by Original Six franchises.[2] It was renamed the NHL Entry Draft in 1979 to accommodate players turning professional in other leagues, such as the World Hockey Association, marking a shift from strictly amateur selections to a broader pool of prospects.[2] Over its 63-year history through 2025, the event has produced legendary players like Wayne Gretzky (selected fourth overall in 1979), Mario Lemieux (first overall in 1984), and Connor McDavid (first overall in 2015), underscoring its role in shaping franchise success and league parity.[3] The selection order for the first round—and sometimes beyond—is determined by a combination of regular-season performance and the NHL Draft Lottery, introduced in 1995 to discourage teams from intentionally underperforming for better picks while giving non-playoff clubs a weighted chance at the top selections.[4] Under current rules, the 16 non-playoff teams enter the lottery with odds inversely proportional to their points totals—the worst team holding an 18.5% chance at the No. 1 pick, capped at a maximum rise of ten spots to prevent extreme tanking.[4] Picks 17 through 32 follow the reverse order of playoff results, with further rounds maintaining the inverse standings from the regular season, all aimed at fostering competitive balance across the league.[1] Eligibility is for players who turn 18 on or before September 15 of the draft year and are generally 18 to 20 years old (with exceptions for European players up to 21 and opt-in provisions for certain overage prospects), though 19-year-olds turning 20 later in the calendar year may opt in via a formal submission by early May or shortly after their season ends.[1] North American prospects often hail from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) circuits—such as the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Western Hockey League (WHL), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)—while international talent increasingly comes from Swedish, Finnish, and Russian developmental leagues, reflecting the NHL's global scouting expansion.[2] Once drafted, players sign entry-level contracts, typically three-year deals for first-round selections, and may develop in the minors or juniors before NHL debuts, with teams retaining rights for two years post-draft if unsigned.[1] This system not only replenishes talent but also influences team strategies, as high picks can accelerate rebuilds for struggling franchises.[4]History
Origins and early drafts (1963–1979)
The NHL Amateur Draft originated as a response to the inequities of the league's pre-1963 sponsorship system, under which the six Original Six teams—Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs—held exclusive rights to promising junior players through "C" form contracts, severely limiting access for potential expansion teams.[5] League president Clarence Campbell championed the draft's creation to promote fairness, particularly addressing complaints from American franchises like the Rangers who felt disadvantaged by the system that funneled top talent to dominant Canadian clubs.[6] The inaugural draft took place on June 5, 1963, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, marking the league's first formalized selection process for amateur players.[7] Teams selected in a predetermined order set by the league with the Montreal Canadiens picking first and choosing center Garry Monahan from the St. Michael's Buzzers, diverging from a strict reverse standings format; the New York Rangers picked last in the first round, while Montreal selected defenseman Peter Baerg from the Edmonton Oil Kings in the fourth round. The event featured four rounds but resulted in only 21 selections, as some teams like Detroit and Chicago passed on later picks due to a shallow pool of eligible prospects—defined as players turning 17 between August 1, 1963, and July 31, 1964.[7] Teams had the option to sign draftees at age 18 within 72 hours or place them on negotiation lists to protect rights, but the process yielded limited immediate impact, with just five of the 1963 draftees—Monahan, Wayne Connelly, Lou Angotti, Dave Balon, and Len Lunde—ever appearing in NHL games.[8] Early drafts remained modest in scope, typically held privately among general managers without public fanfare, and emphasized North American junior leagues like the Ontario Hockey Association. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the draft evolved amid league expansion, growing from six to 12 teams by 1970, which necessitated adjustments to accommodate more selections while maintaining reverse-order priority for non-playoff teams.[6] Rounds expanded gradually, reaching up to 10 by the mid-1970s, though many later picks went unselected or unsigned, reflecting scouting limitations and the era's focus on established junior pipelines rather than global talent.[9] Notable early successes included the 1964 draft's Brit Selby (first overall by Toronto) and the 1966 selection of Rick Pagnutti (first by Pittsburgh, the league's first expansion team), but the system's amateur restrictions often led to oddities, such as players being redrafted after brief professional stints elsewhere or teams trading picks informally.[10] By the late 1970s, competition from the rival World Hockey Association prompted further refinements, including the last intraleague draft in 1975, which allowed intra-league selections of unsigned amateurs.[8] The period culminated in significant rule changes for the 1979 draft, renamed the NHL Entry Draft to reflect the inclusion of players with prior professional experience, primarily to integrate talent from the folding WHA following its 1979 merger with the NHL.[6] Held in Montreal, the 1979 event ballooned to 126 selections across 6 rounds, with an unprecedented 103 draftees eventually playing in the NHL—a stark improvement from earlier years' low conversion rates—highlighting the draft's maturation into a critical talent pipeline.[8] This shift marked the end of the purely amateur focus, setting the stage for broader eligibility and the draft's transformation into a public spectacle.[11]Expansion era and rule changes (1980–2004)
The NHL's expansion era from 1980 to 2004 marked a period of rapid growth, with the league adding nine new franchises and increasing from 21 teams to 30, which directly influenced the entry draft by expanding the total number of selections and providing expansion teams with advantageous draft positions to stock their rosters. This growth diluted the immediate talent pool across the league but heightened the draft's importance as a primary mechanism for team building, particularly for newcomers who often received multiple high picks in the early rounds. For instance, the 1991 entry draft accommodated the San Jose Sharks' addition by granting them the first overall selection, while subsequent expansions in 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, and 2000 followed similar patterns, with new teams like the Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Minnesota Wild benefiting from protected lists in separate expansion drafts but relying heavily on entry draft picks for young talent.[12] A key rule change occurred in 1980, when eligibility criteria were broadened to include players aged 18 to 20, lowering the previous threshold and opening the draft to younger prospects from junior leagues, colleges, and international circuits. This adjustment, implemented during a transitional period following the 1979 merger with the World Hockey Association, aimed to capture talent earlier and compete with emerging professional opportunities, resulting in the 1980 draft expanding to 10 rounds with 210 total selections across the 21 teams. Non-North American players over age 20 also became eligible without prior amateur restrictions, facilitating greater international participation and shifting the draft toward a more global scope, as evidenced by early European selections like Sweden's Tomas Sandström, taken 22nd overall by the New York Rangers in 1982.[6][13] Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, the draft maintained a reverse-order format based on regular-season standings, with playoff teams selecting after non-playoff clubs, but the number of rounds fluctuated to accommodate league size, reaching up to 12 rounds by the late 1980s to allow deeper talent evaluation amid growing junior and European pipelines. The draft also transitioned to a public, televised event starting in 1985, increasing visibility and scouting emphasis, though formal broadcasting began consistently in 1984. By the mid-1990s, concerns over intentional poor performance to secure top picks prompted a significant rule alteration in 1995: the introduction of a lottery system among the five worst non-playoff teams, weighted by inverse standings, where the winner would secure the first overall pick by moving up a maximum of four positions, aiming to preserve competitive integrity while still rewarding struggling franchises.[14] These developments during the expansion era not only adapted the entry draft to a larger league but also emphasized its role in fostering parity, with notable successes like the Pittsburgh Penguins selecting Mario Lemieux first overall in 1984 amid earlier expansion echoes, and the New Jersey Devils building around Martin Brodeur (11th overall, 1990) as the league ballooned. By 2004, the draft had solidified as a cornerstone of NHL roster construction, with 30 teams selecting in nine rounds for a total of 291 picks, reflecting the era's cumulative adjustments to eligibility, order, and scope.[14][6]Modern developments (2005–present)
Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the 2005 entry draft introduced significant procedural adjustments due to the absence of a regular season. A weighted lottery granted every team an equal opportunity to secure the first overall pick, with probabilities based on performance from the prior three seasons; the Pittsburgh Penguins won the lottery and selected Sidney Crosby first overall.[15] This draft also marked the standardization of the selection process to seven rounds, down from nine in previous years, to streamline operations amid the league's new collective bargaining agreement and salary cap implementation.[16] The draft lottery system, originally introduced in 1995 to determine the top pick among non-playoff teams, underwent major reforms starting in 2017 to address concerns over intentional underperformance, or "tanking," by struggling franchises. Prior to 2017, only the five worst teams were eligible for the first pick, with odds of 25 percent for the worst team, decreasing thereafter, and no team could advance more than four positions. The new format expanded eligibility to the 11 worst teams, assigning equal 14 percent odds to each of the three lowest-finishing clubs for the top selection, followed by 11.5 percent (fourth-worst), 9.5 percent (fifth), 8 percent (sixth), 7 percent (seventh), 6 percent (eighth), 5 percent (ninth), 3.5 percent (tenth), 3 percent (eleventh), 1.5 percent (twelfth), 1 percent (thirteenth), and 0.5 percent (fourteenth-worst non-playoff team); three separate draws determined the top three picks, with a maximum 10-spot jump allowed to preserve competitive balance.[17] This structure aimed to diminish incentives for tanking by distributing higher chances more evenly while still favoring poorer performers.[18] Further refinements occurred in 2021, effective for the 2022 draft, reducing the number of draws to two for the first and second picks to simplify the process and limit the worst team's potential drop to no more than two positions for the top selection. Additionally, a rule prohibited any team from winning the first overall pick more than twice within a five-year span, reinforcing anti-tanking measures.[19] These adjustments maintained the 14 percent odds for the bottom three teams while capping extreme upward mobility at 10 spots overall.[20] In 2025, the NHL implemented a decentralized draft format for the first time since the early 1980s, allowing teams to conduct selections remotely from their home cities rather than convening at a single venue. Approved by a 26–6 vote among general managers, this change reduced travel demands and costs but drew criticism for diminishing the event's spectacle and fan engagement. Held primarily in Los Angeles with virtual elements, the format included live prospect announcements and team-specific celebrations, though its long-term adoption remains under review following mixed reception.[21] Parallel to these structural shifts, the integration of advanced analytics has transformed draft preparation since the mid-2000s, complementing traditional scouting with data-driven evaluations of player performance and potential. Teams increasingly employ metrics such as normalized hockey equivalent (NHLe) production, expected goals, and biomechanical assessments from the NHL Scouting Combine to predict NHL success, with studies showing improved accuracy when combining quantitative models and qualitative reports. Influential research, including retrospective analyses of draft outcomes, has highlighted the value of mid-round picks and underscored the challenges in projecting elite talent, leading to more sophisticated Bayesian models for ranking prospects.[22][23]Player eligibility
Age and amateur status requirements
Eligibility for the NHL Entry Draft is governed by strict age and amateur status requirements outlined in the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and hockey operations guidelines, ensuring that selected players are primarily young amateurs transitioning to professional hockey. A player becomes eligible upon turning 18 years old on or before September 15 of the draft year, allowing teams to select prospects who are developmentally ready for professional evaluation without including those still in early junior stages. This cutoff date aligns the draft pool with the conclusion of major junior and international seasons, facilitating timely scouting and selection.[1] North American players—defined as those who have played in North American leagues—are subject to an upper age limit, remaining eligible only if they are under 20 years old as of December 31 of the draft year. This typically encompasses players who turn 18 to 20 years old during the draft year, specifically those born no earlier than January 1 of the calendar year three years prior to the draft and no later than September 15 of the year immediately prior to the draft, creating a two-year draft cohort for most domestic prospects from leagues like the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Western Hockey League (WHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), or United States Hockey League (USHL). Non-North American (international) players face a similar minimum age but an extended upper limit: those aged 21 are eligible provided they have not participated in professional or major junior hockey in North America during the ages of 18, 19, or 20. Players aged 21 or older who did play in North America during those years are treated as overage and ineligible unless specific exceptions apply, such as limited prior exposure. These distinctions accommodate varying international development paths while preventing circumvention of age rules through geographic play.[1][24] Amateur status is a foundational requirement, meaning eligible players must not have signed a standard player's contract (SPC), entry-level contract (ELC), or any professional agreement with an NHL club, nor be listed on an NHL team's protected or reserve list. The CBA classifies major junior players in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as amateurs for draft purposes, despite their receipt of modest educational stipends and expenses, allowing them to enter the draft without forfeiting eligibility. Similarly, players from NCAA Division I programs, European junior leagues, or other non-professional circuits maintain amateur standing as long as they adhere to league-specific rules prohibiting direct compensation for play. Violations, such as signing overseas professional contracts before the draft, render a player ineligible and potentially subject to free agency rules post-age 21. Overage international players may qualify under limited circumstances if their prior professional experience was minimal and outside North America. These rules promote fair access to talent while safeguarding developmental opportunities in amateur systems.[1][25][24] Recent updates in the 2025 NHL-NHLPA CBA have not altered core age or amateur eligibility but have standardized rights retention for drafted players across pathways (e.g., CHL, NCAA, Europe), extending exclusive negotiation periods based on draft age—up to four years for 18-year-olds—to better align with varied amateur timelines. This ensures teams can develop prospects without immediate free agency risks, though it does not expand the eligible pool. Exceptions for overage players remain rare and case-specific, often requiring league approval to confirm amateur compliance.[26]League and international pathways
The primary pathways for players to become eligible for the NHL entry draft revolve around major junior leagues in North America, collegiate hockey, and international junior competitions, all governed by the league's age and amateur status rules outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). North American players, typically those who have primarily developed in Canada or the United States, must be at least 18 years old by September 15 of the draft year and no older than 20 to be eligible, while international players—defined as those who have not played significant amateur hockey in North America during ages 18-20—can be selected up to age 21.[1][27] The Canadian Hockey League (CHL), comprising the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Western Hockey League (WHL), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), serves as the dominant development pathway for Canadian and many American prospects. Players are typically drafted into the CHL as 15- or 16-year-olds via league-specific bantam drafts or the annual CHL Import Draft for international talents, allowing them to compete at a high level through ages 16-20, during which they become NHL draft-eligible. This system has historically produced a majority of NHL draftees, with CHL players often signing entry-level contracts immediately after being selected due to the league's professional-like structure and the CBA's "slide" rule, which can delay their pro debut. However, a significant shift occurred effective August 1, 2025, following the NCAA's decision in November 2024 to lift its longstanding ban on CHL players, enabling them to transition to U.S. college hockey while retaining NHL draft rights, potentially diversifying development options and reducing reliance on full CHL seasons.[28][29] In the United States, the United States Hockey League (USHL) functions as the premier Tier I junior league, primarily for players aged 16-20, and acts as a key feeder to NCAA programs. USHL participants, who must maintain amateur status, are automatically NHL draft-eligible upon turning 18, with many using the league as a two-year stepping stone before college; for instance, over 50 USHL alumni were selected in recent drafts, highlighting its role in producing NHL talent without the professional compensation seen in the CHL. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's hockey provides another major pathway, particularly for American and select international players, allowing them to compete at the university level while remaining draft-eligible up to age 20 (or 21 for non-North American developed players). NCAA players often enter the draft after one or more seasons, balancing academics and development, and recent rule changes have expanded access by permitting CHL-experienced players to join, potentially increasing the pipeline's appeal.[28] International pathways draw from junior leagues across Europe and beyond, where players develop in national systems before entering the NHL draft pool at ages 18-21. Prominent examples include Sweden's J20 Nationell league, Finland's U20 SM-sarja, Russia's MHL (Minor Hockey League), and Czechia's Chance Liga juniors, which emphasize skill development in less physical environments compared to North American juniors. These players are scouted globally and must not have prior North American amateur play at ages 18-20 to qualify for the extended eligibility window; notable successes include Finnish prospects from Liiga juniors and Swedish talents from SHL development teams, who often sign with NHL clubs post-draft while continuing in European pro leagues. The CHL Import Draft also integrates international players into North American junior hockey, blending pathways and exposing them to the style of play valued by NHL teams.[27]Draft preparation
Scouting and player evaluation
Scouting for the NHL entry draft involves a network of professional evaluators employed by each of the 32 teams, who identify and assess eligible amateur players primarily from junior leagues, college programs, and international competitions. These scouts attend games in person, review video footage, and compile detailed reports on prospects' performances throughout the season, often traveling extensively to cover regions like North American junior hockey (e.g., CHL leagues) and European leagues. The process begins as early as players' under-18 years, with scouts building long-term tracking lists to monitor development over multiple seasons.[30] A central component is the NHL Central Scouting Bureau, an independent department of the league that provides standardized rankings to all teams twice a year—midseason and final—for North American skaters, goaltenders, and international players. Central Scouting's approximately 29 scouts evaluate over 1,000 prospects annually, focusing on key attributes such as skating ability, puck skills, hockey sense, physicality, and competitiveness, while incorporating statistical data like points per game and plus/minus ratings. Their final rankings, released in late spring, serve as a benchmark for teams, helping to set the market value of players, though individual teams often deviate based on their own evaluations. For instance, in the lead-up to the 2025 draft, Central Scouting highlighted prospects like James Hagens for his elite skating and playmaking, comparing him to NHL stars like Clayton Keller.[31][32] Player evaluation emphasizes projecting NHL translation, assessing not just current skills but potential growth in areas like speed, decision-making under pressure, and defensive reliability. Scouts use a combination of qualitative observations—such as a prospect's ability to read plays and maintain puck possession—and quantitative metrics, including advanced analytics like expected goals and zone entry rates, to rank players on team-specific boards. Character assessments, gathered through interviews and coach feedback, evaluate work ethic, leadership, and coachability, as these factors influence long-term success. Many teams, like the Buffalo Sabres, integrate proprietary analytics models that aggregate data from sources such as tracking systems and historical draft outcomes to complement scout reports, refining projections for the roughly 200-300 draft-eligible players each year. The NHL Scouting Combine further aids evaluation with formal interviews, fitness tests (e.g., VO2 max, agility drills), and medical screenings for the top approximately 90-100 invitees.[33][27][34]NHL Scouting Combine
The NHL Scouting Combine is an annual event organized by the National Hockey League (NHL) Central Scouting Bureau, where approximately 90-100 top draft-eligible prospects undergo a series of evaluations to assist teams in assessing their physical, medical, and psychological attributes ahead of the NHL Entry Draft.[35][36] For example, the 2025 event, held over six days from June 2-7, allowed scouts, general managers, and coaches from all 32 NHL teams to conduct formal interviews and observe standardized testing, providing data that complements on-ice scouting reports.[37][36] Initiated in 1994 by the NHL Central Scouting Service, the combine originated as a low-profile gathering in hotel ballrooms and convention centers in Toronto, focused primarily on basic physical measurements without significant media attention.[38][39] Its purpose was to standardize evaluations for amateur players, helping teams identify potential risks such as injuries or developmental gaps while highlighting strengths in athleticism and hockey intelligence.[40] Over time, the event has evolved into a more comprehensive and professional affair, expanding to include advanced biomechanical assessments and psychological profiling, with the 2025 edition hosted at KeyBank Center and LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo, New York, marking a shift from its traditional Toronto venue.[41][39] A core component of the combine is the interview process, where each prospect meets with representatives from approximately 16-20 NHL teams in 20-minute sessions, allowing evaluators to gauge personality, resilience, hockey IQ, and off-ice habits through structured questions and scenarios.[42][43] These interactions, often described as high-stakes "job interviews," have grown in emphasis since the early 2000s, reflecting a broader shift toward holistic player evaluation beyond physical metrics.[40] Complementing interviews are medical examinations, including body composition analysis via DEXA scans, orthopedic assessments, and reviews of injury history, which help teams predict long-term durability and identify any undisclosed health issues.[36][44] Fitness testing forms the physical centerpiece, featuring a battery of off-ice drills designed to measure speed, power, endurance, and movement quality, with results often correlating to future NHL performance metrics like peak leg power and aerobic capacity (VO2 max).[45] Key tests include:- Standing long jump: Assesses lower-body explosive power by measuring horizontal distance from a stationary start, emphasizing quick force generation relevant to skating acceleration.[46]
- Vertical jump (force plate): Evaluates leg strength and neuromuscular efficiency through jump height and ground reaction forces, providing data on injury risk and power output.[47][48]
- Bench press: Tests upper-body strength using a 50-pound dumbbell for maximum repetitions, focusing on endurance rather than maximal load to simulate hockey's repetitive demands.[46]
- Anaerobic bike test (Wattbike): A high-intensity interval protocol on a stationary bike measures aerobic and anaerobic thresholds, with prospects completing short sprints to gauge recovery and fatigue resistance.[44][49]
- Pro agility shuttle (5-10-5): Times multi-directional speed and change-of-direction ability over a 15-yard course, critical for assessing agility in tight-ice situations.[49]
- Functional Movement Screen (FMS): A 15-minute sequence of seven exercises, such as squats, lunges, and push-ups, scores mobility, stability, and asymmetry to flag potential injury vulnerabilities.[36]
Selection process
Determining draft order
The order of selection in the NHL Entry Draft is primarily determined by the reverse order of the previous season's regular-season standings, with the team accumulating the fewest points receiving the highest draft position among non-playoff clubs, subject to adjustments from the draft lottery.[24] This system aims to promote competitive balance by rewarding poorer-performing teams with earlier opportunities to select top prospects, while the lottery introduces an element of chance to discourage intentional underperformance, or "tanking."[19] Playoff-qualifying teams are positioned after the non-playoff clubs, ranked in reverse order of their regular-season points, with further refinements based on playoff outcomes: non-division winners who reached the playoffs but did not win the Stanley Cup are ordered first among this group, followed by division winners (excluding the Cup champion), and the Stanley Cup winner selects last.[27] Ties in regular-season points are resolved using NHL tiebreaker criteria, such as head-to-head results, wins, and goal differential. The draft lottery, applicable only to the 16 non-playoff teams, randomizes the top portion of the first round to finalize positions 1 through 16.[20] Conducted prior to the draft—most recently on May 5, 2025, for the 2025 event—it uses a weighted system where each team is assigned a number of combinations out of 1,000 possible outcomes based on their inverse standings: the worst team receives 185 combinations (18.5% chance for the No. 1 pick), decreasing progressively to 5 combinations (0.5%) for the 16th-place non-playoff team.[51] The process involves two draws using ping-pong balls in a lottery machine: the first draw selects the No. 1 overall pick, and the second determines the No. 2 pick from the remaining eligible teams.[52] To limit extreme movements, no team can improve its position by more than 10 spots from its pre-lottery ranking, and the team with the league-worst record cannot fall below No. 3 overall; these rules, implemented in 2021 and fully phased in by 2022, also restrict any single team from winning a lottery draw more than twice in a five-year span.[19] Following the lottery, the remaining first-round positions (Nos. 4–16) and all subsequent rounds are set strictly by reverse regular-season standings for non-playoff teams, followed by the playoff teams as described.[24] Draft picks can be traded before or during the event, allowing teams to alter their positions through negotiations, which adds strategic flexibility but must comply with league rules prohibiting certain conditional trades tied directly to lottery outcomes.[27] For the 2025 draft, the New York Islanders won the lottery to secure the No. 1 pick, illustrating how the system can elevate a mid-tier non-playoff team while protecting the priority of the lowest-ranked clubs.[53]Draft lottery system
The NHL Draft Lottery is a weighted random selection process used to determine the order of the first 16 picks in the annual entry draft among the league's non-playoff teams, aimed at discouraging intentional poor performance to secure high draft positions. Introduced in 1995, the system replaced the prior practice where the team with the worst regular-season record automatically received the first overall selection, which had incentivized "tanking."[17][54] Initially, the lottery involved only the five worst non-playoff teams, with selection odds inversely proportional to their regular-season points percentages; the winner could advance no more than four positions in the draft order.[55] This format persisted with minor adjustments until 2013, when the league expanded eligibility to the 14 lowest-finishing non-playoff teams and introduced three separate drawings for the first, second, and third overall picks to further equalize chances among struggling clubs.[17] In 2017, the odds were recalibrated to give the three worst teams nearly equal probability (14% each) for the top pick, reducing the advantage for the absolute worst performer from 20% to 14% while increasing chances for the fourth- and fifth-worst teams.[20] Major reforms occurred in 2021 and 2022 to address perceived ongoing tanking incentives. The 2021 changes reduced the number of drawings to two—for the first and second overall picks—ensuring the worst-finishing team could not drop below third overall, a safeguard against the previous format where it had fallen as low as fourth in multiple years (e.g., 2017, 2019, 2020).[19] Effective for the 2022 draft, further modifications limited eligibility for the top pick to the 11 worst non-playoff teams, capped upward movement at 10 positions, and prohibited any team from winning the lottery more than twice within a five-year span (non-retroactive, starting 2022–2026).[19][56] These adjustments aimed to promote competitive balance by diminishing the value of finishing last while preserving some reward for poor performance.[54] Under the current system, as applied in the 2025 lottery, the 16 non-playoff teams enter with draft positions initially set in reverse order of regular-season points (with tiebreakers based on regulation wins and goal differential). Odds for winning the drawings are weighted inversely: the worst team receives an 18.5% chance for the first pick, tapering to 5% for the fifth-worst and 0.5% for the 11th-worst, with the 12th- through 16th-worst teams at 0% for the top selection but eligible for the second.[20][56] The process involves two draws using a lottery machine with 14 ping-pong balls to select a four-number combination out of 1,001 possible (1,000 assignable to teams) based on their odds; the first draw selects the No. 1 pick holder (moving them up to at most 10 spots), followed by a second draw among remaining eligible teams for No. 2 (with similar limits).[57] Picks 3 through 16 then fill in reverse standings order, adjusted for any lottery movements. For illustration, the 2025 odds for the top pick were distributed as follows:| Team Rank (by Record) | Odds for No. 1 Pick |
|---|---|
| 1st worst | 18.5% |
| 2nd worst | 14.4% |
| 3rd worst | 11.5% |
| 4th worst | 9.2% |
| 5th worst | 7.3% |
| 6th worst | 6.0% |
| 7th worst | 4.8% |
| 8th worst | 3.8% |
| 9th worst | 3.0% |
| 10th worst | 2.3% |
| 11th worst | 1.8% |
| 12th–16th worst | 0% |
Annual drafts
List of NHL entry drafts
The NHL Entry Draft has been held annually since its inception in 1963, initially under the name NHL Amateur Draft, to allocate eligible amateur players among the league's teams. The inaugural draft occurred on June 5, 1963, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, where the Montréal Canadiens selected center Garry Monahan first overall from the St. Michael's Buzzers.[3][11] For the first 21 years, all drafts took place in Montreal, underscoring the league's strong Canadian foundation during its early expansion era, with the number of rounds growing from four in 1963 to as many as 12 by the late 1970s.[2] This period saw the inclusion of more international talent and the establishment of the draft as a cornerstone of team rebuilding. Beginning in 1985, the event began rotating to other cities to enhance fan accessibility and media coverage, starting with Toronto, Ontario, where the Maple Leafs chose defenseman Wendel Clark first overall on June 15 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.[58] In the modern era, the draft typically features seven rounds over two days in late June, hosted in diverse North American venues, including NHL arenas and convention centers, often paired with fan festivals and the NHL Awards. The COVID-19 pandemic led to virtual formats in 2020 and 2021, but in-person events resumed in 2022. The 2025 draft returned to Los Angeles, California, at the Peacock Theater on June 27–28, with the New York Islanders selecting defenseman Matthew Schaefer first overall from the Erie Otters of the OHL.[59] These shifts reflect the draft's growth into a global spectacle, drawing thousands of attendees and millions of viewers. The table below highlights representative NHL entry drafts, spanning inaugural, transitional, and recent years, to illustrate the event's evolution in location and selections.| Year | Host City | First Overall Selection |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Montreal, QC | Garry Monahan (Montréal Canadiens) |
| 1985 | Toronto, ON | Wendel Clark (Toronto Maple Leafs) |
| 2000 | Montreal, QC | Rick DiPietro (New York Islanders) |
| 2010 | Los Angeles, CA | Taylor Hall (Edmonton Oilers) |
| 2020 | Virtual (NHL Network) | Alexis Lafrenière (New York Rangers) |
| 2025 | Los Angeles, CA | Matthew Schaefer (New York Islanders) |