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2012 NHL Draft: Tampa Bay Lightning Select Slater Koekkoek With No. 10 Pick

The Tampa Bay Lightning selected Slater Koekkoek with their first pick in Round 1 of the 2012 NHL Draft on Friday night. Steve Yzerman decided to go with a big defenseman in Koekkoek in the 1st Round. He's a prospect who could eventually pair nicely with Victor Hedman on the blue line in Tampa Bay.

Koekkoek's stock slipped a bit because of injury concerns, which limited his action last year with the Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey League. More on Koekkoek's potential from SB Nation's Travis Hughes:

Despite his injury-shortened year and the stunted development that could potentially come from it, Koekkoek was still expected to be a mid-to-late first round pick.

His most valuable skills are his speed and puck-moving ability. Couple that with his big 6'2 frame and strong hockey sense and you have a guy with very high potential. It's a risky pick due to the injury but it could pay off.

The Lightning will select again with the No. 19 pick in the 1st Round.

For more on the Lightning, visit Raw Charge. For the latest news and notes from around the league, check out SB Nation's NHL Hub.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.