Originally scheduled to be held on June 25, the 2004–05 NHL lockout led to the draft being postponed to July 30.

Special procedures were required to determine the order of picks, because the previous season had been cancelled due to the lockout.

As of 2024, the remaining active players in the NHL from this draft are Sidney Crosby, Anze Kopitar, T. J. Oshie, Kris Letang, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jack Johnson, Ryan Reaves, and Jonathan Quick.

The draft was originally scheduled to be held on June 25, hosted by the Ottawa Senators at the Corel Centre (their home rink).

Nor was it possible for large numbers of drafted players to attend: only the twenty highest prospects on the NHL Central Scouting rankings were present.

However, the lockout had led to the complete cancellation of the 2004–05 NHL season, so there were no final positions to base the draft order on.