The NHL Draft began in 1963, then known as the NHL Amateur Draft during which all amateur players 17 or older not already sponsored by an NHL club could be selected. In the years since, the draft has taken on many forms and formats, eventually being renamed the NHL Entry Draft.

Throughout its history, the draft has been an important piece of building championship teams and has often been the first introduction to the future stars of the game.

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FloHockey answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the NHL Draft.

How Many Rounds Is The NHL Draft?

The current NHL Entry Draft is comprised of seven rounds.

With seven rounds and 32 franchises, a total of 224 players were drafted in 2023, led by No. 1 pick Connor Bedard.

Each team receives one draft selection per round, but selections are regularly used as trade assets, resulting in teams reducing or accumulating draft selections. Since its inception in Montreal on June 5, 1963 the entry draft—or NHL Amateur Draft pre-1979—was utilized to determine fair displacement of the incoming generations of players.

The format of seven rounds has been in place since the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. But the NHL’s recent additions of the Vegas Golden Knights (2017) and the Seattle Kraken (2021), have increased total picks from 210 to 224; or two selections per round for the expansion franchises. 

The draft consisted of nine rounds from 1995-2004. Form 1992-1994, the draft was 11 rounds. From 1982-1993, the draft was 12 rounds. From 1963-1981, there were anywhere from 4 to 25 rounds of draft selections.

Why Are There Different Numbers Of Draft Picks Some Years?

The inconsistency in total players selected has occurred for a variety of reasons. These reasons include draft pick forfeiture via violations, league expansion and expansion drafts, and compensatory selections.

How Is The NHL Draft Order Determined?

Up until 1994, the draft was determined solely on overall standings form the previous regular season. The club with the fewest standings points would draft first overall, in succession, and the order was repeated through each round.

In 1995, the NHL announced the implementation of the Draft Lottery, which created a weighted system intended for favor teams with the fewest standings points and curb the potential for “tanking” (intentionally reducing standings points to land the top selection, i.e. losing on purpose).

From 1995-2012, the lottery winner could move up no more than four selections, allowing only the five worst teams to be eligible for the first selection. Non-playoff teams with a final standings position between 6-16 would only be eligible to move up to selection 2-12, respectively.

From 2013-2015, the lottery winner automatically received the first-overall draft position. From 2016-2020, the lottery was expanded to the first three draft positions; all non-playoff teams had an opportunity to move into the top-three spots.

In 2021, the lottery was reserved for only the top two picks. Since 2022, the lottery still covered the top-two selections, but non-playoff teams were only allowed to move up a maximum of ten positions. Teams can now only move up in the lottery twice in a five-year span.

Who Is Eligible To Be Selected In The NHL Draft?

Draft eligible players include all players turning 18 years old on or before September 15 and younger than 20 years old before December 31 of the draft year. Non-North American players aged 21 are also eligible.

How Do No. 1 Picks Usually Perform?

As the NHL’s average age lowers each year, the potential that sits within the first overall selection holds a lot of weight in a team’s trajectory. Post-2005, in the salary cap era, seven of the last 20 No. 1 picks, excluding the 2023 draft class, have claimed the Stanley Cup.

Claude Gauthier (Detroit Red Wings, 1964), Andre Veilleux (New York Rangers, 1965), and Rick Pagnutti (Los Angeles Kings, 1967) are the only three No. 1 selections of all time to never play in an NHL game. Various other first-overall picks over the history of the draft have played a wide range of games at the NHL level.

Selected first by the Boston Bruins in 1997, Joe Thornton holds the all-time games played record by a first-overall pick. Thornton’s 1,714 games played are sixth all-time.

ALSO READ: Which NHL Team Has Had The No. 1 Draft Pick The Most?

How Many Players Taken Last In The Draft Reached The NHL?

Ten players taken with the last pick in their draft year have gone on to play in the NHL.

• Blair Barnes (1979, 126th overall)
• Andy Brickley (1980, 210th overall)
• Igor Vyazmikin (1987, 252nd overall)
• Sergei Priakin (1988, 252nd overall)
• Hans Jonsson (1993, 286th overall)
• Kim Johnsson (1994, 286th overall)
• Jay Henderson (1997, 246th overall)
• Jonathan Ericsson (2002, 291st overall)
• Patric Hörnqvist (2005, 230th overall)
• Zach Trotman (2010, 230th overall)
• Jacob Middleton (2014, 210th overall)

Of the ten names above, only five have gone on to play in more than 100 NHL games. Hörnqvist leads the way with 901 NHL games and won two Stanley Cups in his career. Ericsson played in 680 NHL games, Johnsson in 739 games, Brickley in 385, and Jonsson in 242.

Who Is The Lowest-Drafted Player To Reach The NHL?

Jonathan Ericsson, who played all 680 games of his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, was the latest player ever selected to play in the NHL at 291st overall in 2002.

Watch NHL Draft Prospects On FloHockey

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Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @Jacob_Messing.