Top future players from every National Hockey League team: part six
Slater Koekkoek (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Slater Koekkoek is a Canadian international ice hockey professional player, who currently plays for Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
He is one of the top prospects of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the National Hockey League (NHL) as he was picked in the first round of this year’s NHL Draft few months ago.
The 18-year-old Mountain, Ontario native was picked in the top 10 when he was selected 10th overall.
Morgan Rielly (Toronto Maple Leafs)
18-year-old Morgan Rielly was also a first round pick of this year’s NHL Draft. Like Koekkoek, Rielly was also selected among the top five players when he was picked 5th overall by Toronto Maple Leafs.
The defenseman currently plays for Moose Jaw Warriors in he Western Hockey League (WHL), after he started his career with Notre Dame Hounds in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).
Last year he has sustained an injury, which made him miss most of the last season but he would be coming back strongly and would surely turn out to be one of the assets of the Maple Leafs in the NHL.
Zack Kassian (Vancouver Canucks)
Zack Kassian, a professional ice hockey player from Canada, who is currently associated with the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL, was originally drafted in the 2009 NHL Draft, when he was selected 13th overall by Buffalo Sabres.
The Windsor, Ontario native played in OHL for Peterborough Petes and Windsor Spitfires, before playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) for Portland Pirates and Rochester Americans. After playing five years of hockey at different levels, he made his NHL
debut in 2011-2012 season for Buffalo but he was dealt to Canucks mid way through the season. He can be expected to become a good player in future.
Filip Forsberg (Washington Capitals)
Also among the top picks of the 2012 NHL Drafts, Filip Forsberg was drafted in the first round when was selected 11th overall by Washington Capitals.
The Swedish international player who has not played any hockey in USA until now, has been playing for Leksands IF in the Elitserien Hockey League (SEL) and Sweden’s junior hockey league ever since his career started.
The 18-year-old player was a gold medallist with Team Sweden in the 2012 World Junior Championship and surely has got a great future with both Capitals and Sweden.
Jacob Trouba (Winnipeg Jets)
An American international ice hockey player, Jacob Trouba was also a top 10 selectee of the 2012 NHL Draft when he was selected 9th overall in the first round of the draft by Winnipeg Jets.
The 18-year-old defenseman, who was a gold medallist in the 2011 world junior under-18 championship and silver medallist in the 2010 under-17 world junior championship, has been playing under United States National Training and Development Programme (USNTDP)
and would be featuring for USA seniors team and Winnipeg Jets.
His stats in United States Hockey League (USHL) suggest that he has a great future ahead.
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