On February 9, 1966, the NHL announced that it would officially expand by six teams. They introduced five ownership groups, from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The sixth city was announced as St. Louis, with Baltimore as a backup. It seems that the Chicago Black Hawks owned the St. Louis Arena, and they were looking for someone to take it off their hands. They did, of course, eventually find owners in St. Louis who paid $2 million for the franchise and $4 million for the arena.
The expansion draft was scheduled for June 6, 1967, in Montreal. It turned out to be a busy time.
The Six-Day War was going on in the Middle East. Expo 67 (the world's fair) was going on in Montreal.
At Carnegie Tech graduation on June 4, Paul Mellon announced that the institution would be known as Carnegie Mellon University, not Carnegie University as previously expected.
On the 5th, the Penguins announced that they had a working agreement with the AHL Baltimore Clippers to serve as their farm team.
The Phantoms named Pepi Gruber their fourth and final coach.
The Pirates chose outfielder Joseph Grigas of Brockton, Mass. in the first round of the baseball draft. In the third round, they selected 17-year-old Richard Zisk, an outfielder from Parsippany, N.J.
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1967 NHL Expansion draft rules:
Protected lists were made available to expansion teams at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 6, one hour before the draft began.
Each established team began with one goalie and 11 skaters protected. First came a two-round goaltender draft, with order chosen by lot and reversed in the second round. After the first round, each established club could protect another goalie. Then came 18 rounds of drafting skaters. After each of the first two players an established team lost, they could protect another player.
Players who played professional hockey in 1966-67 but hadn't reached their 21st birthday before June 1 weren't eligible to be drafted. (One of the names in this category: Bobby Orr.)
Each expansion team had three minutes to make a pick, although they also had three 10-minute conferences at their disposal.
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Detroit manager-coach Sid Abel put it this way: "You don't build a hockey club in a day. It takes years. The owners of the Red Wings have put millions of dollars and a lot of time and effort into building this club. Why should they be expected to give it all away?"
The Penguins went into the draft with four players under contract. Les Binkley, Bill Speer and Ted Lanyon were the first three players acquired by the team when they were purchased from the AHL Cleveland Barons on Sept. 17, 1966. (Binkley was assigned to spend 1966-67 in San Diego.) In May 1967, the club also bought Dick Mattiussi from the Barons.
The Penguins had the fifth choice in the goalie draft and took Joe Daley from Detroit. In the second round, they chose Roy Edwards from Chicago.
Los Angeles took 37-year-old Terry Sawchuk from Toronto with the first pick, Philadelphia chose young Bernie Parent second from the Bruins, and St. Louis tabbed Glenn Hall third from Chicago.
Minnesota drafted first in the skaters' portion of the draft and selected Dave Balon of Montreal. This allowed the Canadiens to protect Claude Larose, and Montreal sent a few players to the North Stars "for cash and other considerations" after the draft had concluded.
Pittsburgh chose the third skater: Earl Ingarfield, a 33-year-old center who had 12 goals and 22 assists for the Rangers in 1966-67. Their entire draft:
Player, Drafted from - Games as Penguin
Joe Daley(H), Det - 38
Roy Edwards, Chi - Traded (returned in 1971-72 to play 15 games)
Earl Ingarfield, NY - 90
Al MacNeil, Det - 74
Larry Jeffrey(H), Tor - Traded
Ab McDonald(H), Det - 74
Leo Boivin(H), Det - 114
Noel Price, Mon - 143
Keith McCreary, Mon - 292
Ken Schinkel, NY - 371
Bob Dillabough(H), Bos - 61
Art Stratton(H), Chi - 58
Val Fonteyne(H), Det - 349
Jeannot Gilbert, Bos - Traded
Tom McCarthy, Mon - 0
Billy Dea, Chi - 139
Bob Rivard, Mon - 27
Mel Pearson, Chi - 2
Andy Bathgate(H), Det - 150
Les Hunt, NY - 0
(H) - former Pittsburgh Hornet
They immediately traded Jeffrey to New York for Paul Andrea, George Konik and Dunc McCallum.
There was some doubt about whether Bathgate would retire, but his relationship with Penguin coach Red Sullivan, who had played with and then coached Bathgate in New York, attracted him to Pittsburgh.
Pat Curran of the Montreal Gazette ranked the Penguins' draft third of the six. (The Seals and Flyers were one and two.)
In the next day's amateur draft, the Pens chose G Peter Rexe, RW Bob Smith and D Frank Francis. None ever appeared in an NHL game. These were the days when NHL organizations had their own junior teams, and could sign kids as early as age 14; it would be another couple years before the amateur draft became universal.
Before the season started, Gilbert was traded for Gene Ubriaco, and Edwards for Hank Bassen. Bassen, who had been the Hornets' goalie during their Calder Cup run, was in goal for the Penguins' first game.
Al Abrams of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked to Hornets general manager-coach Baz Bastien, Penguins GM Jack Riley and Sullivan about how long it would take for the Penguins to reach parity with the established teams. They all answered "three to five years."
Later in the week, Abrams mentioned that all but two Hornets, Bassen and Warren Godfrey, were chosen in the expansion draft.
The Penguins first made the playoffs in 1970, at the end of their third season. The only survivors of this draft who appeared in the playoffs were Schinkel, McCreary and Fonteyne. Binkley and McCallum also played.
No expansion team won a playoff series from an established team until Philadelphia beat the Rangers and Bruins to win their first Stanley Cup in 1974, seven years after coming into existence.
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For comparison, the 2017 expansion draft rules (from nhl.com):
Protected Lists
* Clubs will have two options for players they wish to protect in the Expansion Draft:
a) Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender
b) Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender
* All players who have currently effective and continuing "No Movement" clauses at the time of the Expansion Draft (and who to decline to waive such clauses) must be protected (and will be counted toward their club's applicable protection limits).
* All first- and second-year professionals, as well as all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection (and will not be counted toward their club's applicable protection limits).
Player Exposure Requirements
* All Clubs must meet the following minimum requirements regarding players exposed for selection in the Expansion Draft:
i) One defenseman who is a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
ii) Two forwards who are a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
iii) One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18. If the club elects to make a restricted free agent goaltender available in order to meet this requirement, that goaltender must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the club's protected list.
* Players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games (or who otherwise have been confirmed to have a career-threatening injury) may not be used to satisfy a club's player exposure requirements, unless approval is received from the NHL. Such players also may be deemed exempt from selection by the League.
Regulations Relating to Expansion Franchise
* Vegas must select one player from each presently existing club for a total of 30 players (not including additional players who may be acquired as the result of violations of the Expansion Draft rules).
* Vegas must select the following number of players at each position: 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders.
* Vegas must select a minimum of 20 players who are under contract for the 2017-18 season.
* Vegas must select players with an aggregate Expansion Draft value that is between 60-100% of the prior season's upper limit for the salary cap.
* Vegas may not buy out any of the players selected in the Expansion Draft earlier than the summer following its first season.
The 30 NHL Clubs must submit their Protection List by 5:00 P.M. ET on Saturday. The Golden Knights will receive the list of protected players at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday and must submit their selections by 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
So the Golden Knights could take each club's fourth-best defenseman or ninth-best skater, while the 1967 teams had to settle for existing clubs' 12th, 14th, and then 16th-31st best skaters, with an hour instead of three days to evaluate the protected lists. Vegas gets full credit for taking advantage of their opportunity, but it's an opportunity that their expansion predecessors didn't have.
