 The new teams were stocked by the NHL 's first expansion draft , as each team selected 20 players from the existing franchises . There was much debate over how many players each existing team could protect : the strongest clubs wished to protect more players , while the weaker clubs hoped that protecting fewer players would help improve the balance of competition . Montreal Canadiens manager Sam Pollock 's suggestion to allow each team to protect eleven players to start , then add an additional player to their protected list for each player selected in the draft , was ultimately agreed to as a compromise solution . In addition , an " intra @-@ league draft " was held following the 1968 and 1969 seasons to help accelerate the improvement of the expansion teams . Each team protected two goaltenders and fourteen skaters , leaving their remaining players open to be selected by any other team . 
