Lightning select RW Brett Connolly with No. 6 pick in NHL draft

LOS ANGELES New Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman was always going to be attached at the hip to whichever player he selected with his first-ever draft pick.

In selecting right wing Brett Connolly, however, it's going to be more about the immediate health of Connolly's hips instead of the long-term potential of the player Tampa Bay chose with the sixth overall pick.

Connolly is a 6-foot-2, 180-pound forward out of Prince George in the Western Hockey League. He is a skilled goal-scorer who easily could have challenged to be taken first overall after becoming the first player in 14 years to score 30 goals in the WHL as a 16-year-old in 2008-09, earning Canadian Junior player of the year honors.

But a hip flexor problem on both sides shut him down for all but 16 games this season, leading to concerns from many as to whether he was going to be healthy enough to reach his potential.

Lightning director of player personnel Jim Hammett, however, said in all the research, medical %evaluations and interviews done by the team, they were satisfied there will be no long-term effects and it's not a situation that he won't be able to overcome. When Connolly, who was ranked third overall among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and fourth overall among all prospects by The Hockey News, slipped past the top five, it didn't take long for the Lightning to make their way to the podium and select him.

"I honestly thought that if this kid was healthy he'd be challenging for (No.) 1 and 2 in this year's draft. That's how strong I felt about his skill set," Hammett said. "He has a very, very soft set of hands. He has excellent vision with the puck and the ability to slow down the pace of the game and make things open up for him. I'm excited down the road to see him paired up with some of our other guys. It was just skill that we couldn't turn down."

Connolly said initially his right hip is the one that started bothering him, and then as he overcompensated on the ice the left side began to flare up. That's when, after 16 games, his season was over and the questions about his longevity began to come into question.

"It was just a little bit of an unlucky year, it was a freak accident and it's something that's behind me. I'm looking forward to showing people what I can do in Tampa and looking forward to (putting) it behind me," Connolly said. "When I was younger, I was never the most flexible guy and I've played a lot of hockey over the years and I think that caught up to me a little bit. It's something (stretching) that I have to put into my routine, something I'll have to do every day."

Yzerman sat in on the interview with Connolly on Thursday, when the team really started to zero in on one or two players it had the highest interest in selecting. When Connolly (and one other player) was still on the team's wish list, Yzerman said he stopped fielding phone calls from fellow GMs looking to acquire the pick and put his faith in the scouting staff.

"I challenged our scouting staff to be strong in their convictions, they know him from last year and they felt he had so much talent and if he played all year he would have been one of the top players in the draft, that was their feeling," Yzerman said. "At the end of the day, they felt he was good enough and had that kind of potential, they wanted to pick him."

After fielding questions from all angles about his health, Connolly said he can't wait to answer them on the ice.

"I'm so excited to get over to Tampa Bay and show them what I've got," he said. "I feel that I do have a lot to prove."