1975 NHL AMATEUR DRAFT

Gordie Laxton

The 1975 NHL Amateur Draft was held on Tuesday, June 3, 1975 at the NHL Headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. West Division teams drafted in reverse order of their 1968-69 finish in the standings, while East Division teams reverted back to the rotating draft order from 1967 while accounting for 1968 with teams moving up two positions each. The Montreal Canadiens, who had the option to take the first two French-Canadian players in the draft in lieu of their regular picks, chose first and second overall, taking right wing Rejean Houle and left wing Marc Tardif both of Montreal (OHA), respectively.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, who finished with 51 points (20 wins) in 1968-69 - tied with Minnesota (18 wins), would draft second overall out of 12 teams in each round. On May 21, 1968, Pittsburgh traded its first round choice in the 1969 Amateur Draft (Frank Spring, RW, Edmonton) to Boston for Jean Pronovost and John Arbour. The Penguins traded their seventh round choice (Bob Collyard, C, Colorado College) to St. Louis for cash. They also traded their eighth round choice (Frank Hamill, RW, Toronto) to Montreal for cash. This would leave Pittsburgh with five selections in the 10-round draft as they passed on making a selection in the ninth and tenth rounds.

Pittsburgh selected center Rick Kessell from Oshawa (OHA Jr.) in the second round with the 15th overall pick. Kessel played in parts of four season with the Penguins from 1969-70 to 1972-73 and made his NHL debut on March 21, 1970 vs. Chicago and scored his first NHL goal in the game. Kessell played the 1973-74 season with the California Golden Seals and finished his NHL career with 135 games played including 84 with Pittsburgh.

Kim Clackson

Lex Hudson

1975 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL Amateur Draft Selections

Choice	Round	Pick	Overall	Player	Position	1974-75 Amateur Club
1	1	13	13	Gord Laxton	G	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
2	2	13	31	Russ Anderson	D	University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (WCHA)
3	3	13	49	Paul Baxter	D	Winnipeg Clubs (WCHL)
4	4	13	67	Stu Younger	LW	Michigan Tech University Huskies (WCHA)
5	5	13	85	Kim Clackson	D	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
6	6	13	103	Peter Morris	LW	Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
7	7	13	121	Mike Will	C	Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL)
8	8	13	139	Tapio Levo	D	Assat Pori (Finland) - Finland Jr. Nationals
9	9	12	155	Byron Shutt	LW	Bowling Green University Falcons (CCHA)
10	10	10	170	Frank Salive	G	Peterborough Petes (OHA)
11	11	10	185	John Glynne	D	University of Vermont Catamounts (ECAC)
12	12	9	196	Lex Hudson	D	Denver University Pioneers (WCHA)
13	13	4	202	Dan Tsubouchi	RW	St. Louis University Billikens (CCHA)
14	14	2	206	Brano Stankovsky	LW	Fargo-Moorhead (MWJHL)
15	18	2	217	Kelly Secord	RW	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)