Ht/Wt: 6' 2"/183 lbs
Position: D
Team: Peterborough (OHL)

Slater Koekkoek's Player Profile

A graduate of the Notre Dame Hounds Midget AAA program, Slater Koekkoek returned to his home province of Ontario in 2010 after he was chosen in the first round of that year's OHL Priority Selection by the Peterborough Petes. With Barron Smith and Kalle Ekelund on the cusp of graduation, and Adrian Robertson eventually being traded, Koekkoek was expected to fill the void on the blueline for the Petes but not as quickly as he has. In only his first season in the OHL, he became the team's most reliable defenceman. The Petes are a young team and, even for a 1994-born player, he surely brought leadership and drive. His work ethic is exemplary and he has veteran savvy. Koekkoek has a heavy and accurate shot; it would not be out of the question to see him score double-digit goal totals in the OHL, even by next season. His passes are crisp and quick. He has a fluid skating stride that allows for him to jump into the rush. Additionally, Koekkoek can also play physical, making him a great all-around defenceman. He has potential to be a powerplay quarterback in Peterborough. His leadership was evident at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in 2010 where he helped Team Ontario win gold; he also won gold at the 2011 Memorial Tournament of Ivan Hlinka for Canada as an alternate captain. He plays the game with passion and tenacity; he is an exciting player to watch. His name might be hard to say but, in time, everyone will be saying it.
Submitted by: Margann Laurissa

Strengths – In my opinion Slater Koekkoek’s biggest strength is…the fact that he has a lot of them. He’s very good defensively, especially while defending rushes (which can be tough). He’s tough to beat one-on-one, he’s physical, he uses his body well to rub players off the puck and he’s just a tough guy in general to play against. He’s not overly big, but he uses the size and strength he does have very well. Koekkoek is a great skater, very good on the rush, and he knows when to jump into the play and when to stay back. I’d say his transition game as a whole is fantastic. Koekkoek has outstanding vision and is a very good passer which makes him quite effective on the powerplay. He has a pretty good shot, too. With his solid defensive play, it’s safe to say he is more than capable of killing penalties, as well. A few more things that I really like about him is that he’s not afraid to block shots, he never takes shifts off and will do whatever it takes to win. Petes General Manager, and former NHL player, Dave Reid said it best: “Slater wants to be the best at everything he does and competes to always be the best, whether it is being first in a skating drill, winning a shootout competition, a battle drill in the corner or fitness testing. Slater has the competitive nature to be the best and simply win everything he competes at, this is a trait that separates the elite athletes from the rest” It’s quite possible that he could end up being the best defenseman to come out of this draft.

Weaknesses – Koekkoek is pretty well rounded, but one area of his game he could work on is his defensive game. For the most part he’s pretty solid in his own zone, but his defensive game could use a little polishing when it comes to always being in the right position, picking up the right defensive assignments and so forth. Those are aspects of his game that can be fixed with time and quality coaching.

Career Projection – First pairing (#2) defenseman – After talking with Dave Reid, various scouts and reviewing my own notes on Koekkoek, I’m going to project him as a solid two-way number two defenseman. Koekkoek has a mean streak, the work ethic, skill set and upside to become a number one defenseman in the NHL, but because he has a little work to do in his defensive zone and it’s tough to peg someone as a sure fire number one defenseman, I’ll project him as a number two.
Submitted by: Todd Cordell of TheHockeyGuys

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Slater Koekkoek Videos

Dylan Corson vs Slater Koekkoek



Slater Koekkoek 1st ohl goal vs Belleville (2010-09-30)



Slater Koekkoek vs Derek Lanoue






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