Five historical facts about the NHL Draft

By the time we get to this point, just a couple days before the NHL Draft, there are mocks aplenty and prospect profiles up the wazoo. Most of it is speculation, merely stories with short shelf lives.

But what about interesting tidbits from drafts past? Or where the most draftees come from? Or what the most bizarre pick in the history of the draft?

Here are a few historical facts and stats for the NHL Draft to indulge in ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs going on the clock for that first overall pick on Friday.

If the close-ups of Connor McDavid’s nervous face ahead of last year’s draft was any indicator, there is some pressure to being the first overall pick. Will that player go down in history as someone who led a team to a Stanley Cup victory or become a bust?

Such was the case in the very first entry draft in 1963, in which forward Garry Monahan was selected from the St. Michael’s Juveniles by the Montreal Canadiens with the first overall pick. Monahan was regarded a bust and traded to the Detroit Red Wings in 1969 for Pete Mahovlich, who had been the second overall pick in that same draft and also came from the Juveniles. Mahovlich went on to win four championships with the Habs.

There has been some attention circling around a potentially high number of U.S.-born players being drafted in the first round. In 2010, a record 11 players selected in the first round were American.

Per Joe Yerdon of NHL.com: “Of the top 30 North American skaters ranked by NHL Central Scouting, 12 are American-born… If those 12 players are selected in the first round, that would set a record; 11 were picked in the first round in 2010. It would also be more evidence the work being done by USA Hockey and others across the country to develop the game is resulting in better talent.”

The bulk of draftees over the years has, as expected, come from the leagues north of the border. In addition to the bulk of prospects being born in Canada, a chart of draft picks 1969-2014 shows that half of past draftees have come from the Canadian Hockey League. An average 21.2 percent of players were drafted from the OHL, 18.3 percent were drafted from the WHL and 10.5 percent from the QMJHL. (Although, interestingly, the same chart shows a higher number of prospects coming from U.S. colleges than QMJHL teams, at 10.9 percent.)

Some teams generate a large number NHL prospects, and then sometimes pro hockey products are built within the same family. There have been 17 brother combinations drafted in the first round of past NHL Drafts, including four of the six Sutter brothers. There have been seven sets of twins drafted into the NHL, with three of them — Peter and Paul Flache, Henrik and Joel Lundqvist and Matt and Mark McRae — all being selected in the 2000 draft. Topping the elusive list are Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who were selected second and third overall by the Canucks in the 1999 draft.

Weirdest NHL draft pick ever? That award goes to late Sabres GM George “Punch” Imlach. As summarized by OneMillionSkates.com: “In the 1974 NHL Draft, Buffalo Sabres GM Punch Imlach decided to fool the media and league officials by drafting Taro Tsujimoto of the Japanese Hockey League’s Tokyo Katanas. Trouble was, neither Tsujimoto nor his team was real. The pick was later stricken from the records.”