The first NHL Amateur Draft was held on June 5, 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Any amateur player that was 17 years of age and older and was not already sponsored by an NHL club was eligible to be drafted.
In 1969 the rules were changed so that any amateur player under the age of 20 was eligible to be drafted. 84 players (more than four times the average in each of the first six drafts) were selected that year.
In 1979, the name of the Draft was changed from "Amateur" to "Entry" to accommodate a rule change that allowed players who had previously played professionally to be drafted. This rule change was made to facilitate the absorption of players from the now defunct World Hockey Association.
Beginning in 1980 and continuing today, any player who is 18-20 years old is eligible to be drafted. In addition, any non-North American player over the age of 20 can be selected.
Also in 1980, the Entry Draft became a public event. Prior to this year the Entry Draft was conducted in Montreal hotels or League offices and was closed to the general public. The 1980 draft was held in the Montreal Forum and there were more than 2,500 fans in attendance.
In 1985 the first draft outside of Montreal was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario in 1985. The event was attended by 7,000 fans.
Live television coverage of the Draft began in 1984 when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation covered the event in both English and French for Canadian audiences. SportsChannel America began covering the event in the United States in 1989.
C Form
The C form was the standard instrument used by the NHL to acquire young players in the Original Six era, prior to the Universal Draft of 1969 (prior drafts were of players not on sponsorship lists).
The form, which usually led to a professional contract, would be signed at 18 and could be renewed once. The player usually would already be on one of the Junior teams affiliated with an NHL franchise.
Misconceptions about the C-Form
There is a popular view that parents signed very young children's hockey lives over to the teams. This comes from the fact that at the time, most Junior clubs were owned or subsidised by NHL teams, and usually subsidised minor hockey in their areas.
However, one had to be 18 to sign a C-Form. Players as young as 14 could be put on a 4-name Negotiation list (as Bobby Orr was in 1962).
