DENVER — Lightning coach Jon Cooper clearly remembers the first time he saw winger Ondrej Palat.
Cooper was coaching Tampa Bay's American Hockey League affiliate in Norfolk, Va., when he had to decide what to do with the quiet Czech kid who had been passed over in his first year of draft eligibility and was chosen by the Lightning in the seventh round (208th overall) in 2011.
At that stage of the draft, teams are looking for warm bodies and not expecting much. Palat was different. He stood out immediately. Cooper was intrigued.
