Although the NHL Amateur Draft began in 1963, 1969 was the first true draft. Previously, the amateur draft only included players not on the roster of a NHL sponsored junior team. Despite their being 12 teams in the league at the time, their were thirteen first round picks. Ten of the thirteen picks went to the ‘Original 6’ teams, with just Minnesota, Philadelphia and Oakland participating. Of the top five picks, Montreal and Boston each had two and the Minnesota North Stars had one.
The complete 1969 draft consisted of ten rounds and 84 players were selected. 49 of those 84 players appeared in at least one NHL regular season game during their pro hockey career. Three players went on to play over 1,000 games in the NHL (Ivan Boldirev, Bobby Clarke, Butch Goring).
What follows are the rookie cards of the top five picks in that 1969 NHL Amateur Draft.
Rejean Houle was taken first overall by the Montreal Canadiens. Houle went on to play 635 regular season games in the NHL, all with Montreal. He also spent three years in the World Hockey Association with the Quebec Nordiques from 1973-74 to 1975-76.
Rejean was a scoring machine with the OHA’s Montreal Junior Canadiens at the time of the draft. He had just come off a 108 point season, which was the highest total in the league and earned him the Eddie Powers Trophy. His ability around the net returned in 1975-76 with the Nordiques. Houle scored 51 goals and totalled 103 points, finishing eighth in the race for the Bill Hunter Trophy.
Marc Tardif was a teammate of Rejean Houle with the Montreal Junior Canadiens. The NHL Canadiens chose him second overall in 1969. Tardif played four years with Montreal before jumping to the WHA for the 1973-74 season. He played six years in the WHA with the Los Angeles Sharks, Michigan Stags, Baltimore Blades and Quebec Nordiques. Tardif surpassed 100 points three times with Quebec and was awarded the Bill Hunter Trophy as scoring leader in 1975-76 and 1977-78. Marc’s 154 points in 1977-78 will forever remain a WHA record for most points in a single season.
Tardif returned to the NHL with Quebec in 1979-80 and retired after the 1982-83 season. He played a total of 517 regular season games in the NHL and 446 in the WHA.
Despite the end of NHL sponsorship in junior hockey after the 1968 draft, Don Tannahill still ended up with the NHL team that originally sponsored him. Tannahill played with the Niagara Falls Flyers from 1966-67 to 1968-69. The Flyers were an Ontario Hockey Association club affiliated with the Boston Bruins. The Flyers soon after moved north to Sudbury where the franchise is known as the Sudbury Wolves today.
Don was taken third overall by Boston in 1969. He went on to play just 111 games in the NHL, none with the Bruins. Tannahill’s NHL career consisted of the 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. He also played in 222 games in the WHA with the Minnesota Fighting Saints and Calgary Cowboys.
Frank Spring made it on the front of just one mainstream hockey card, his 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee rookie card. Spring was taken fourth overall by the Bruins. He played in 61 NHL games between 1969-70 and 1976-77 with the Bruins, St. Louis Blues, California Seals and Cleveland Barons. His career with Boston consisted of one game in 1969-70. Spring played in 13 WHA games with the Indianapolis Racers in 1977-78 before hanging up the blades.
Dick Redmond, like his brother Mickey, played most of his junior hockey with the Peterborough Petes of the OHA, while also spending some time with the St. Catherines Black Hawks. Redmond was the fifth overall pick in 1969, going to the Minnesota North Stars. He played just 16 games over two seasons with Minnesota before heading west to the Bay Area to play with the California Golden Seals.
Redmond played nearly 800 regular season NHL games between 1969-71 and 1981-82 with the North Stars, Golden Seals, Chicago Black Hawks, St. Louis Blues, Atlanta Flames and Boston Bruins.