How Many Rounds Are In The NHL Draft?

The NHL Entry Draft is held once every year and consists of seven rounds. In each round, teams select players who have been either drafted or unsigned by another team.

NHL Entry Draft Format

The NHL Entry Draft is the process whereby professional hockey teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) select eligible amateur hockey players. It is held once every year, generally within two months of the conclusion of the previous season.

Draft Lottery

The NHL Entry Draft lottery is a weighted system used to determine the order of selection for the first 15 picks of the NHL Entry Draft. The lottery is held prior to the draft, and the results are used to determine the order of selection for the teams that did not qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Under the current system, there are three draws: one for the first overall pick, one for the second overall pick, and one for the third overall pick. The remaining 12 non-playoff teams are then seeded in reverse order of regular season points.

The team with the fewest points has the best chance of winning the lottery and receiving the first overall pick. The odds of winning are as follows:

-Team with fewest points: 20%
-Team with second-fewest points: 13.5%
-Team with third-fewest points: 11.5%
-Team with fourth-fewest points: 9.5%
-Team with fifth-fewest points: 8%
-Team with sixth-fewest points: 6.5%
-Team remaining seed 7 through 12: 5%

Draft Order

The draft order for the first round of the NHL Entry Draft is determined by the reverse order of finish of the teams in the regular season standings. For subsequent rounds, the draft order is determined by reverse standings order as of the conclusion of the previous round, with any ties broken in favor of the team with fewer points (fewer wins and more losses) in the regular season.

Number of Rounds in the NHL Draft

The NHL Draft consists of 7 rounds. In each round, teams select 1 player. A total of 217 players are drafted each year.

Seven Rounds

The National Hockey League’s Entry Draft consists of seven rounds. In each round, teams select players who have been determined to be eligible for the draft. Players who have been selected in the draft, as well as unsigned free agents, become members of the team that drafted them and are eligible to play in the NHL.

Players who have been drafted in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft have typically gone on to have successful careers in the NHL. However, there are many players who have been drafted in later rounds who have also enjoyed successful careers.

Undrafted Free Agents

Players that are not selected in the NHL draft are then eligible to be signed by any team as undrafted free agents. In order to be signed by an NHL team as an undrafted free agent, a player must be 24 years of age or older or they must have played four years of professional hockey in North America or Europe.

During the 2011-12 season, there were 84 undrafted players on NHL rosters, including Zdeno Chara, Tim Thomas and Daniel Alfredsson. Of the 84 undrafted players, 28 were drafted from Canadian universities, while 23 came from the United States college system and 11 came from Europe.

Why the Number of Rounds Has Changed

The number of rounds in the NHL draft has fluctuated over the years. The main reason for this is that the league has expanded and contracted at various points in its history. In the early years of the draft, there were only seven rounds. The draft was then expanded to nine rounds in the 1970s.

2005 CBA

In the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA, it was stipulated that the number of rounds in the NHL Draft would be reduced from nine rounds (down from ten the previous year) to seven. This change was made with an eye towards player development; by having fewer rounds, teams would supposedly be more likely to invest time and resources into developing their draftees, rather than simply stockpiling prospects.

2013 CBA

In the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and NHLPA, the number of rounds in the draft was reduced from seven to six. This change went into effect with the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and has been in place ever since.

The main reasoning behind this change was to allow teams who had drafted poorly in recent years to have a better chance at turning their franchise around. In theory, this would be accomplished by giving these teams an extra year to re-evaluate their scouting department and make necessary changes. The thinking is that by having one fewer round in the draft, bad teams would be more likely to get better players with their early picks and turn their franchise around quicker.

So far, it seems like this plan has worked out quite well. In the six drafts since the change was made, there have been a number of teams who have used high draft picks to turn their franchise around quickly. The Chicago Blackhawks, for example, won the Stanley Cup in 2015 after drafting players like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in consecutive years.

It’s still too early to say definitively whether or not reducing the number of rounds in the draft has been a success, but it seems like it has had a positive impact so far.

Final Thoughts

The NHL draft is a very important event for young hockey players. It is a chance for them to be selected by an NHL team and to start their professional career. The draft consists of seven rounds, and each team has one pick in each round.

NHL Draft History

The NHL Entry Draft is an annual event in which every team in the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically selects the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirements (North American players 18–20 years old and European/international players 20–22 years old).