Bright and early this morning, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug tweeted out that the Edmonton Oilers have signed defenceman, @Slater Koekkoek, to a one-year deal worth “under a million dollars.”
Koekkoek contract with the Oilers is under a million dollars.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) December 26, 2020
With Oscar Klefbom set to miss the entire year as a result of a shoulder injury, many Oilers fans were wondering if Ken Holland would further add to his team’s depth with another defensive signing and this morning we got that in the form of Slater Koekkoek. Last season, Koekkoek drew into 42 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, picking up 10 points (1G, 9A) and 42 PIM over that span while also adding three points in nine playoff games. At this stage, it appears that he’ll be an option to be in and out of the Oilers’ lineup as the team’s seventh defenceman, but we won’t really know where he slots in until the season gets going.
Last week, Jason Gregor wrote about the possibility of the Oilers signing Koekkoek and here’s how he broke it down:
He has played 1934 minutes at 5×5 in his career. His time has been split quite evenly, at least in minutes played between Chicago and Tampa. In four and a half seasons in TB he played 989 minutes and in one and half seasons with Chicago he played 948 minutes. Tampa was a much deeper team and harder lineup to crack.Here are his stats between the two.In Tampa he had a 48.3CF%, 50.1SF%, 49.6SCF% and a 50GF%.
In Chicago he posted a 52.4CF%, 49.8SF%, 51.1SCF% and a 53.4GF%.He had better possession numbers in Chicago, despite being on an overall weaker team. That is a positive.This past season with Chicago he played 30.5% against Elite, 30.9% against middle and 38.6% against grind lines courtesy of PuckIQ.com
The Winchester, Ontario, native was originally drafted 10th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning at the 2012 NHL Draft but has yet to truly cement himself onto an NHL roster in the time since. That said, Koekkoek will be expected to provide sound defensive play when he is called upon as I assume this year will have more lineup changes from game-to-game than we may be used to because of COVID-19 and a compressed schedule. In 149 career NHL games, Koekkoek has seven goals and 22 assists for 29 points.
***UPDATE***
Slater Koekkoek
1 year/ 850k AAV
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) December 26, 2020
KOEKKOEK’S CAREER SO FAR
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PGP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014-15 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
2015-16 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2015-16 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 60 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 26 | -3 | — | — | — | — | — |
2016-17 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 29 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 8 | -4 | — | — | — | — | — |
2016-17 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 48 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
2017-18 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 35 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — |
2018-19 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
2018-19 | Syracuse Crunch | AHL | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | — | — | — | — | — |
2018-19 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 22 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — |
2019-20 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 42 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 42 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
NHL Totals | 149 | 7 | 22 | 29 | 86 | 19 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
