Quick Facts
Date: April 25, 1966
Site: Mount Royal Hotel
Host City: Montreal
Draft History
The fourth NHL Amateur Draft took place on the earliest date in NHL draft history and marked the second time that each of the participating teams used all of their available draft picks. It was also the only time that the draft was ever held at Montreal's former Mount Royal Hotel. At the time of the 1966 draft, the Stanley Cup Finals between the Red Wings and Canadiens had just begun the previous night in Montreal, so much of the hockey community was already in town. The draft was held on the off-day between Games 1 and 2 of the Finals. Detroit would make some more history of its own at the draft, when it became the first team to trade one of its picks. The Red Wings deferred their pick in the first round to Boston in order to complete a Feb. 16, 1966, trade with the Bruins.
The Basics
| Eligible For Draft: | Amateur players not on sponsorship lists prior to April 1, 1966, who were born before June 1, 1949. |
| Draft Order: | Order set by league based on previous years with team that picked first in 1965 dropping to No. 6 and all others moving up one draft position. |
| Irregularities: | Boston was able to draft first because the Bruins had deferred their pick from the previous year. New York, which had been scheduled to draft first in the normal rotation, dropped to No. 2. Chicago, scheduled to draft second, dropped to No. 3. Toronto drafted at No. 4 after having deferred that position from the previous year. Montreal drafted No. 5 after having deferred that position, leaving Detroit at No. 6. Montreal had option to take first two French-Canadian players before start of draft, but the Canadiens chose not to exercise option and went ahead and used regular first and second-round picks. |
| Rotation: | Boston, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit. |
| Total Rounds: | Four |
| Cost to Draft: | Amateur teams were paid $3,000 per drafted player. |
| Draft Rights: | Team could offer player contract on his 19th birthday. |
Draft Recap
| No. 1 pick: | Barry Gibbs (by Boston) |
| Reached NHL: | 14 players (58.3 percent) |
| Won Stanley Cup: | Three players (2 names engraved) (12.5 percent) |
| Most NHL Games: | Brad Park (1,113 games) |
| Most Playoff Games: | Brad Park (161 games) |
| Highest Pick to Miss: | No. 9 (Ron Dussiaume) |
| Lowest Pick to Reach: | No. 20 (Jack Egers) |
| Players Drafted: | 24 (14 forwards, 8 defense, 2 goalies) |
| SNAPSHOT '66 | |
| Total Selected: | 24 |
| Forwards: | 14 |
| Defense: | 8 |
| Goaltenders: | 2 |
| Major Junior: | 17 |
| College Players: | 0 |
| Canadian: | 24 |
| American: | 0 |
| European: | 0 |
| Reached NHL: | 14 |
| Won Stanley Cup: | 3 |
| Hall of Fame: | 1 |
| All-Star Game: | 3 |
| Year-end All-Star: | 1 |
| Olympians: | 0 |
| Picks Traded: | 1 |