1978 NHL Amateur Draft

1978 NHL Amateur Draft
overview
date	June 15, 1978
place	Montréal , Québec , Canada
Round	22nd
Selected players	234
1st position	Bobby Smith Elected By: Minnesota North Stars
2nd position	Ryan Walter Elected By: Washington Capitals
3rd position	Wayne Babych Elected By: St. Louis Blues
NHL Amateur Draft  <1977 1979>

The NHL Amateur Draft in 1978 , the annual talent contraction of the National Hockey League , was on 15 June 1978 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Canadian Montreal in the Province of Quebec instead. It was the last draft that was still referred to as an amateur draft. From 1979 the event was renamed Entry Draft.

A total of 234 players were drawn in 22 rounds, with only a few teams selecting players in the last rounds and from round 18 only the Montréal Canadiens drawn more players. Among them was in the twelfth round with Vyacheslav Fetissov, a player from the Soviet Union, who had little chance of becoming involved in the NHL due to the political world situation. Likewise were Ladislav Svozil and Anton Šťastný two Czechoslovaks selected.

Bobby Smith , the first player drawn , was the only one in this draft to reach the 1,000-point mark in his career . The elected Brad Marsh and Craig MacTavish were the players who were allowed to play without a hard hat in later years.

For the first time, German players were also selected in the draft. In addition to Willie Huber , who was born in Germany and who immigrated to Canada with his parents when he was a child, Bernie Englbrecht and Gerd Truntschka were drawn in the twelfth round .

Draft result

Pick	player	country	NHL team	College / junior / professional team
1 round
1.	Bobby Smith (C)		Minnesota North Stars	Ottawa 67’s ( OMJHL )
2.	Ryan Walter (C)		Washington Capitals	Seattle Breakers ( WCHL )
3.	Wayne Babych (RW)		St. Louis Blues	Portland Winter Hawks (WCHL)
4th	Bill Derlago (C)		Vancouver Canucks	Brandon Wheat Kings (WCHL)
5.	Mike Gillis (LW)		Colorado Rockies	Kingston Canadians (OMJHL)
6th	Behn Wilson (D)		Philadelphia Flyers	Kingston Canadians (OMJHL)
7th	Ken Linseman (C)		Philadelphia Flyers	Birmingham Bulls (WHA)
8th.	Dan Geoffrion (RW)		Montréal Canadiens	Cornwall Royals ( QMJHL )
9.	Willie Huber (D)		Detroit Red Wings	Hamilton Fincups (OMJHL)
10.	Tim Higgins (RW)		Chicago Black Hawks	Ottawa 67's (OMJHL)
Other notable players
11.	Brad Marsh (D)		Atlanta Flames	London Knights (OMJHL)
12.	Brent Peterson (RW)		Detroit Red Wings	Portland Winter Hawks (WCHL)
16.	Al Secord (D)		Boston Bruins	Hamilton Fincups (OMJHL)
17th	Dave Hunter (LW)		Montréal Canadiens	Sudbury Wolves (OMJHL)
2nd round
19th	Steve Payne (LW)		Minnesota North Stars	Ottawa 67's (OMJHL)
21st	Joel Quenneville (D)		Toronto Maple Leafs	Windsor Spitfires (OMJHL)
23.	Tony McKegney (LW)		Buffalo Sabers	Kingston Canadians (OMJHL)
31.	Al Jensen (G)		Detroit Red Wings	Hamilton Fincups (OMJHL)
3rd round
40.	Stan Smyl (F)		Vancouver Canucks	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
41.	Paul Messier (C)		Los Angeles Kings	University of Denver ( NCAA )
4th round
55.	Bengt-Åke Gustafsson (F)		Washington Capitals	Färjestad BK
59.	Dave Silk (F)		New York Rangers	Boston University (NCAA)
63.	Brian Young (F)		Chicago Black Hawks	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
64.	Jim MacRae (F)		Atlanta Flames	London Knights (OMJHL)
5th round
78.	Ted Nolan (LW)		Detroit Red Wings	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OMJHL)
6th round
89.	Jim Nill (RW)		St. Louis Blues	Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL)
93.	Tom Laidlaw (D)		New York Rangers	Northern Michigan University (NCAA)
103.	Keith Acton (C)		Montréal Canadiens	Peterborough Petes (OMJHL)
7th round
106.	Steve Stockman (C)		St. Louis Blues	Cornwall Royals (QMJHL)
109.	Paul MacLean (F)		St. Louis Blues	Hull Olympiques (QMJHL)
111.	Don Waddell (D)		Los Angeles Kings	Northern Michigan University (NCAA)
8th round
129.	John Barrett (D)		Detroit Red Wings	Windsor Spitfires (OMJHL)
133.	Eric Strobel (F)		Buffalo Sabers	University of Minnesota (NCAA)
135.	Dave Cameron (F)		New York Islanders	University of Prince Edward Island ( CIAU )
9th round
153.	Craig MacTavish (C)		Boston Bruins	University of Massachusetts Lowell (NCAA)
154.	Kevin Constantine (G)		Montréal Canadiens	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NCAA)
10th round
160.	Bob Froese (G)		St. Louis Blues	Niagara Falls Flyers (OMJHL)
11th round
179.	Darryl Sutter (LW)		Chicago Black Hawks	Lethbridge Broncos (WCHL)
180.	Bob Sullivan (LW)		Atlanta Flames	Toledo Goaldiggers ( IHL )
12th round
194.	Ladislav Svozil (F)		Detroit Red Wings	TJ Vítkovice
196.	Bernhard Englbrecht (G)		Atlanta Flames	EV Landshut
198.	Anton Šťastný (F)		Philadelphia Flyers	Slovan CHZJD Bratislava
200.	Gerd Truntschka (C)		St. Louis Blues	Cologne EC
201.	Vyacheslav Fetissov (D)		Montréal Canadiens	HK CSKA Moscow
19th round
231.	Chris Nilan (F)		Montréal Canadiens	Northeastern University (NCAA)

Web links

• 1978 NHL Amateur Draft at hockeydb.com