Editing NHL entry draft (section)

== History ==
The [[1963 NHL entry draft|first NHL entry draft]] (at that time known as the "NHL amateur draft") was held on June 5, 1963, at the [[Queen Elizabeth Hotel]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]].<ref name="History" /> In 1967, NHL president [[Clarence Campbell]] and [[Canadian Amateur Hockey Association]] (CAHA) president [[Fred Page]] announced a new tentative five-year agreement on August 19, 1966, with several proposed changes to the existing system, effective July 1, 1967. The direct sponsorship of junior teams by the NHL was to be phased out in the upcoming year, and no new sponsored players could be registered or be required to sign a contract restricting movement between teams.<ref name="pro-am-pact">{{cite news|title=Sweeping Changes In Pro-Am Hockey Pact|date=August 19, 1966|newspaper=Winnipeg Free Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba|page=22|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-aug-19-1966-1087023/}}{{free access}}</ref> The agreement eliminated the A, B and C forms, which had angered the parents of amateur players and were the source of legal action threats when the professional team refused to release a player.<ref>{{cite news|title=CAHA Becomes Bonus Baby Sitter|last=Gross|first=George|date=August 30, 1966|newspaper=Brandon Sun|location=Brandon, Manitoba|page=8|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-aug-30-1966-1087032/}}{{free access}}</ref> Junior-aged players became eligible for the draft once they graduate from junior hockey, or to be signed as a free agent in the year the player reaches his 20th birthday. The NHL agreed to pay development fees to the CAHA for the drafted players. The new agreement came at a time that also leveled the playing field for new NHL clubs in the [[1967 NHL expansion]].<ref name="pro-am-pact" />

The NHL briefly changed the drafting age from 20 years old to 18-year-olds in 1974, to compete with the new WHA which was allowing teams to sign underage junior players. The 20-year old rule returned for the 1975 draft.

In 1979, the rules were changed allowing players who had previously played professionally to be drafted. This rule change was made to facilitate the absorption of players from the defunct [[World Hockey Association]]. Consequently, the name of the draft was changed from "NHL amateur draft" to "NHL entry draft". The draft age was also dropped to include 19-year old "underage" players.  In 1980, the age was dropped further to 18, so that any player who is between the ages of 18&nbsp;and 20 is eligible to be drafted. In addition, any non-North American player over the age of&nbsp;20 can be selected. From 1987 through 1991, 18 and 19-year-old players could only be drafted in the first three rounds unless they met another criterion of experience which required them to have played in major junior, U.S. college and high school, or European hockey.<ref name="History">{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/futures/drafthistory.html|title=NHL Draft History|publisher=[[National Hockey League]]|access-date=July 2, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010128131400/http://nhl.com/futures/drafthistory.html|archive-date=January 28, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=424812|title= Picking top 3 all-time draft classes easy as 1 2 3 |last=Kimelman|first=Adam|date=June 10, 2009|publisher=[[National Hockey League]]|access-date=July 2, 2009}}</ref>

In 1980, the entry draft became a public event, and was held at the [[Montreal Forum]]. Prior to that year the entry draft was conducted in Montreal hotels or league offices and was closed to the general public.<ref name="History" /> The first draft outside of Montreal was held at the [[Metro Toronto Convention Centre]] in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], in 1985.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=431703|title=Drafting by the Numbers |last=Kreiser|first=John|date=June 25, 2009|publisher=[[National Hockey League]]|access-date=July 2, 2009}}</ref> Live television coverage of the draft began in 1984&nbsp;when the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] covered the event in both English and French for Canadian audiences. The 1987 entry draft, held at [[Joe Louis Arena]] in [[Detroit, Michigan]], was the first NHL draft to be held in the United States. [[SportsChannel America]] began covering the event in the United States in 1989.<ref name="History" />

Prior to the development of the draft, NHL teams sponsored junior teams, and signed prospects in their teens to the junior teams. Players were signed to one of three forms: the "A" form, which committed a player to a tryout; a "B" form, which gave the team an option to sign a player in return for a bonus; and the "C" form, which committed a player's professional rights. The "C" form could only be signed by the player at age eighteen or by the player's parents, often in exchange for some signing bonus.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brunt |first=Stephen |title=Searching for Bobby Orr |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-676-97651-9 |page=53}}</ref> The first drafts (up until the 1968 amateur draft) were held to assign players who had not signed with an NHL organization before the sponsorship of junior teams was discontinued after 1968.

In October 2023, owners approved a proposal to switch the NHL Draft to a "decentralized" model in line with that of the [[NBA draft|NBA]] and [[National Football League Draft|NFL]] drafts, in which only prospects and team representatives will be present in-person at the Draft venue, and business would be conducted remotely from the teams' front offices. These changes are scheduled to take effect in 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-05 |title=NHL finalizing details to hold ‘dramatic’ 2024 NHL Draft in Vegas Sphere |url=https://www.nhl.com/news/2024-nhl-draft-in-las-vegas-sphere-being-finalized |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=NHL.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnston |first=Chris |title=Majority of NHL teams support decentralization of draft |url=https://theathletic.com/4999604/2023/10/25/nhl-teams-decentralization-draft/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=The Athletic |language=en}}</ref>