The 1979 NHL Entry Draft had one of the best first rounds
ever. All 21 players selected in the first round went on to careers in the NHL
in some degree. The least regular season NHL games any of the first round picks
went on to play was 238 (Ray Allison – 18th overall by the Hartford
Whalers).
Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of the 1979 NHL
Entry Draft with the following four trivia questions.
Q. Who was the first overall pick in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft?
A. The Colorado
Rockies chose Rob Ramage as the first overall pick. Ramage was drafted from the
Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association, though he played his junior
hockey with the London Knights of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League.
Ramage played in the NHL from 1979-80 to 1993-94 with the Rockies, St. Louis
Blues, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota North Stars, Tampa Bay
Lightning, Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.
Q. What player was the only one to be drafted in the first round of the
1979 NHL Entry Draft from the U.S. University system?
A. Mike Ramsey
was selected eleventh overall by the Buffalo Sabres. Ramsey previously played
for the University of Minnesota. Mike played over 1,000 career NHL games from
1979-80 to 1996-97 with the Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.
Q. What Hockey Hall of Fame member who played 1756 regular season games
in the NHL was not selected until the third round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft?
A. Mark
Messier was selected 48th overall by the Edmonton Oilers after a
season with the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA. Messier scored 694 regular
season goals during his NHL career and contributed 1,887 points with the
Oilers, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks. Mark was inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.
Mark’s point total places him second all-time in National
Hockey League history. He sits just ahead of Gordie Howe but nearly 1,000
points behind Wayne
Gretzky. Messier was just recently pushed down to eighth overall for goals
scored by Jaromir Jagr. His 1,756 regular season games puts Mark just eleven
games behind Howe for the most all-time.
Q. Who was the first European selected in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft?
A. The first
round of the 1979 Draft featured players from North America only. In the second
round, the New York Islanders selected Tomas Jonsson 25th overall.
Jonsson, from Sweden, played 552 NHL regular season games from 1981-82 to
1988-89 before returning to Sweden to play nine years for Leksands in the
Swedish Elite League. Two other Swedes were selected in that second round,
Pelle Lindbergh by the Philadelphia Flyers and Mats Naslund by the Montreal
Canadiens.
