Quick Facts
Date: June 13, 1968
Site: The Queen Elizabeth Hotel
Host City: Montreal
Draft History
The sixth NHL Amateur Draft was the first to feature drafting based on the reverse order of finish from the previous season -- although the expansion West teams were given preference over the East teams, because all six West teams were allowed to draft before all six East teams regardless of point totals. In this respect, the league took a big step toward competitive balance with what became the standard for all successive drafts. This was also the only draft in NHL history in which one team (Montreal) made all of the first three picks.
The Basics
| Eligible For Draft: | All amateur players not on sponsorship lists who were born before January 1, 1949. |
| Draft Order: | Last place team in West drafted first, followed by all other West teams in reverse order. The West was followed by the six East teams in reverse order. |
| Irregularities: | Montreal had option to take first two French-Canadian players, and it used picks in place of its regular picks in the first two rounds. Trades and selection deferrals caused an unevenness in the rounds. In the first round, both Toronto and Detroit deferred to Chicago, and then Detroit deferred to Toronto before making its selection. Some of these deferrals were related to side agreements made during the previous day's Intraleague draft in which some teams agreed not to select certain players from others teams. Other deferrals might have been related to settling future considerations linked to past trades. New York passed on the first round. Five teams passed on the second round and seven passed on the third round. All teams passed on the fourth round, ending the draft. |
| Rotation: | Oakland, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, New York, Montreal. |
| Total Rounds: | Three |
| Cost to Draft: | Amateur teams were paid $3,000 per drafted player. |
| Draft Rights: | Team could offer player contract at any time after draft. |
Draft Recap
| No. 1 pick: | Michel Plasse (by Montreal) |
| Reached NHL: | 10 players (41.6 percent) |
| Won Stanley Cup: | Two players (8.3 percent) |
| Most NHL Games: | John Marks (657 games) |
| Most Playoff Games: | John Marks (57 games) |
| Highest Pick to Miss: | No. 2 (Roger Belisle) |
| Lowest Pick to Reach: | No. 16 (Curt Bennett) |
| Players Drafted: | 24 (13 forwards,8 defense, 3 goalies) |
| SNAPSHOT '68 | |
| Total Selected: | 24 |
| Forwards: | 13 |
| Defense: | 8 |
| Goaltenders: | 3 |
| Major Junior: | 16 |
| College Players: | 4 |
| Canadian: | 22 |
| USA Citizens: | 2 |
| U.S.-Born: | 1 |
| European: | 0 |
| Reached NHL: | 10 |
| Won Stanley Cup: | 2 |
| Hall of Fame: | 0 |
| All-Star Game: | 2 |
| Year-end All-Star: | 0 |
| Olympians: | 0 |
| Picks Traded: | 1 |