Up until the draft I will be putting out 20 NHL Draft Prospects in 20 days. I will be certain to cover all the top guys but also some players that can be had in later rounds. I will end up with a mock draft the day before the draft. If you missed any of the prospects, click ARCHIVE above to find what you have missed.
“But” is a powerful word. When used it means disregard everything that was said before. It's what you hear a lot with defenseman Slater Koekkoek.
“Koekkoek has a tremendous package of size, skill, and potential which could be a home-run in a few years,” The Scouting Report explains. “Koekkoek is a great skater and does a good job of moving the puck and making good decisions. His skating ability allows him to lead rushes and his offensive zone play is very good. He’s still in the progress of filling out his frame and improving his defensive zone play, but the skill-set that Koekkoek brings to the table cannot be overlooked as his ceiling could be as high as any of the defensemen in this draft.”
But with all of that he continues to slide down the draft board. The reason is due to missing the last 40 games of the season for Peterborough due to a shoulder injury.
“It’s very hard to find a knock on Koekkoek, except for the fact that he missed so much time with the shoulder injury,” HockeyProspect.com NHL Draft Black Book describes. “This type of injury has affected the career of prospects in the past, who weren’t able to reach their potential. We see Slater as a surefire talent among the top 15 picks. We also think that it’s very possible that he will drop out of the top 15 on draft day. If that happens, it will be solely due to injury concerns and not his talent. If he shakes the injury, Slater is a player who could be a contributor on the power play, a key shutdown guy on the penalty kill and will play consistent top four minutes. Had Slater not been injured, he would have been one of the safest picks in the draft.”
But he's not a safe pick due to the injury and the lost year of development. I don't want to come across that I don't like Koekkoek as a prospect. He's a do everything defenseman that could quarterback your power play, be on your penalty kill unit, high end hockey sense, shut down top forwards and be on the ice from 25 to 30 minutes, there is nothing not to love about his game. His coach in Peterborough, Mike Pelino, compares him to the Predators Shea Weber and Kings Drew Doughty.
The draft is about value. It's as simple as that. It's not that players outside the first round aren't talented, it's just there usually were less questions about players selected higher. You see it all the time that some of those players answer those questions and become all-stars like Henrik Zetterberg (210th overall 1999), Doug Gilmour (134th overall 1982), Igor Larionov (214th overall 1985, Hall of Fame 2008), Pavel Bure (113th overall 1989), Luc Robitaille (171st overall 1984), Brett Hull (117th overall 1984) and Pavel Datsyuk (171st overall 1998) name a few but notice not many defenseman on that list.
But if all is right with Koekkoek shoulder and is given time to season, a team could be sitting with a top four defenseman in five years and maybe evolves into a top pairing blue liner. He has all the tools, the only question is if the tool box that holds all the tools will let him down thus letting down the team that drafts him. Koekkoek is without question a top half of the first round talent but most likely will be drafted in the second round. It's the kind of player that if he works out will be put on the resume of every scout of the team that drafts him.
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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