The draft took place to fill the rosters of the league's six expansion teams for the 1967–68 season: the California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and the St. Louis Blues.
As this ambitious expansion doubled the league's size from six to twelve teams, a large number of players were needed to fill the rosters of the new franchises.
Almost all of the leading professional hockey players in North America were already under contract with the six existing franchises; therefore, the draft was established to equitably distribute players from the Original Six clubs (the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs) to the new teams.
Each of the new teams' names was placed on a paper ballot enclosed in a capsule, which was drawn from the bowl of the Stanley Cup by NHL President Clarence Campbell.
With the first pick in the draft the Kings chose future Hall of Fame goaltender Terry Sawchuk, backbone of the great Detroit Red Wings teams of the 1950s and fresh off a Stanley Cup championship with the Maple Leafs.
[5] A poll of minor league sportswriters and executives, following the draft, felt that Philadelphia had gotten the best of the selections and Los Angeles the worst, while the Boston Bruins were the hardest hit of existing clubs.