NHL Expansion Draft History

It is an exciting time for hockey news right now, as uncertainty over the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft creates a lot of player movement.

Fans love player movement because it creates hope. Media love player movement because it creates stories. Teams often don't mind player movement because it creates opportunity. Players, well, players don't always like being shuffled along, but they accept it as part of the business.

I was asked if I was writing any about past NHL Expansion Drafts. Fantastic idea, I thought, but not enough time.

Besides, all the data is nicely available on Wikipedia. The people who did this work did a fantastic job, often complete with protected lists, rules, results and follow-up trades.

Here are the links in one handy location:

• 1967 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1970 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1972 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1974 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1979 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1991 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1992 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1993 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1998 NHL Expansion Draft
• 1999 NHL Expansion Draft
• 2000 NHL Expansion Draft
• 2017 NHL Expansion Draft