Actually it was even more crooked than that. Each team in the NHL had territorial draft rights to players in their respective geographic areas. So Toronto got all the best guys born around Toronto and Montreal got all the best pea soupers while the American teams got their pick of all the top US talent

(although I think the Red Wings might have been entitled to players around the Windsor area). This lasted until 1963 when the first draft started and a few years after that the Leafs became the shitbags we all know while the Canadiens made a lot of great trades with expansion teams for draft picks and they took the right players and excelled.