The NHL Draft has been in existence since 1963. It is the primary source of new players for the National Hockey League with the vast majority of current players across the league having first been drafted.

The Draft has taken on many different forms and formats over the years before getting to the live television production and spectacle it has become today. In the 60 years of the NHL Draft, many of the league’s top stars have been selected with the first overall pick.

As a result, the first overall draft pick is one the most coveted commodities in hockey today, representing one of the key pieces for a team to get back to competitive hockey after a particularly poor year allowed them to win the NHL Draft Lottery which determines who picks first overall.

Some teams have been luckier than others when it comes to picking first overall.

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Here’s the breakdown of which teams have selected first overall the most in NHL Draft history.

Montreal Canadiens Have Had Most No. 1 Overall Picks

The Montreal Canadiens lead the NHL in Stanley Cups won, but they’ve also been the team that has had the most No. 1 overall picks in NHL history. The Habs have selected first overall six times, most recently in 2022 when they selected Slovakian-born Juraj Slafkovsky with the top pick. Montreal also had the first overall pick in the very first NHL Draft ever held in 1963. Garry Monahan has the designation of being the first ever NHL Draft pick.

No other team has selected first overall more than four times. The Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders each have held the No. 1 pick on four occasions. The Quebec Nordiques, which relocated and became the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 has also selected first overall four times with three picks while the Nordiques and one while the Avalanche.

Here’s the list of NHL teams that have picked first overall more than once:

• Montreal Canadiens 6
• Buffalo Sabres 4
• Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques 4
• Edmonton Oilers 4
• New York Islanders 4
• Boston Bruins 3
• Detroit Red Wings 3
• Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars 3
• New Jersey Devils/Colorado Rockies 3
• Ottawa Senators 3
• Pittsburgh Penguins 3
• Tampa Bay Lightning 3
• Washington Capitals 3
• Atlanta Thrashers 2
• Chicago Blackhawks 2
• Florida Panthers 2
• New York Rangers 2
• Toronto Maple Leafs 2

Edmonton Oilers’ Run Of Lottery Luck Leads To Connor McDavid

The Edmonton Oilers were one of the elite teams of the 1980s, winning four Stanley Cups. The 2000s, beyond a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2007, were dismal for the franchise. It got so bad, in fact, that the Edmonton Oilers won the top pick in the NHL Draft lottery in three consecutive seasons, 2010-12. That still didn’t help that much as Edmonton once again won the top pick in the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery, which may have finally been the one that helped the franchise turn things around.

The Oilers selected Taylor Hall in 2010, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in 2011 and Nail Yakupov in 2012. Hall was eventually traded to the New Jersey Devils where he won a Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP, Nugent-Hopkins remains a member of the Oilers and Nail Yakupov became one of the most notable NHL Draft busts of the last decade.

In 2015, however, the Oilers landed one of the game’s all-time great players in Connor McDavid.

The NHL has since put limits on the number of times an NHL team can win the draft lottery in a certain timespan.

Pittsburgh Penguins No. 1 Picks Historically Good

While many teams have picked first overall more than once, few have managed to make the size of impact on the NHL that each of the three first overall picks of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It all started in 1984 when Pittsburgh selected Mario Lemieux, one of the NHL’s five best players of all time and some may argue the most talented player ever to grace the NHL. Lemieux won just about everything one could win in the league, including back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992 for Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, in 2003, the Pens acquired their long-time franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury who helped them win two Stanley Cups over his career. 

In 2005, Pittsburgh’s lottery luck granted them one of the best players of his or any era in Sidney Crosby. Crosby led the Penguins to three Stanley Cups and was the face of the NHL for the better part of a decade.

Gilbert Perreault From First To Hall Of Fame

The Buffalo Sabres have selected first overall four times, but they went 1-for-1 in their first NHL Draft. Gilbert Perreault was selected No. 1 in 1970. He spent all 1,191 games of his NHL career with the Sabres, scoring 512 goals and 1,326 points. He was the eighth player in the draft’s history to go No. 1, but the first of those eight players to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Connor Bedard The Latest Budding Superstar Picked First

The Chicago Blackhawks have picked first overall twice in their franchise history. The first was in 2007 when they selected future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane with the No. 1 pick. Chicago’s lottery luck smiled on them again in 2023 when Connor Bedard, one of the most highly-touted prospects of the last decade was selected with the top choice. He is expected to start his NHL career with Chicago in the 2023-24 season.

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