page_title: List of first overall NHL draft picks
section_title: First overall picks
hierarchical_section_title: List of first overall NHL draft picks / First overall picks
caption_attribution_description: English: Mats Sundin, playing an NHL game for the Toronto Maple Leafs, in Vancouver. Svenska: Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs
context_page_description: The NHL Entry Draft, originally known as the NHL Amateur Draft, is a collective meeting in which the franchises of the National Hockey League systematically select the exclusive rights to available amateur players who meet the eligibility requirements to play professional hockey in the NHL. First held in 1963, the draft prior to 1969 was a shorter affair. Any amateur player who was 17 years of age and older and was not already sponsored by an NHL club was eligible to be drafted. In 1969 the rules were changed so that any amateur player between the ages of 17 and 20 was eligible to be drafted. The draft has grown, and in 2017, 217 players were selected over seven rounds.
  A total of 54 different players have been selected first. Of those, 39 have been Canadian, eight American, three Russian, two Czech, two Swedish and one Swiss. Every first overall pick taken between 1968 and 2010 has played in at least 299 NHL games. Three players retired without having played an NHL game.
  The Montreal Canadiens have had the most first overall picks of any other team, selecting five players first between 1963 and 1980.
context_section_description: Key
  Notes
  Wendel Clark was drafted as a defenceman
caption: Mats Sundin, drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1989.
exif: {}