Former Edmonton Oilers defenceman Slater Koekkoek revealed what went down at the end of his time with the team during the 2021-22 season.
During a recent appearance on The Jason Gregor Show on Sports 1440 in Edmonton, he recalled a meeting with then-GM Ken Holland that took place during his final season in the NHL. What Koekkoek was told by Holland may been a tough pill to swallow but he used it as motivation to get his life beyond the game going in the right direction.

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&quot;I think back at a beautiful moment in my life, Ken Holland called me a clock killer, he said I didn&#39;t do anything positive or negative. It made me reevaluate how I spent my time&quot;. &#8211; former NHLer Slater Koekkoek <a href="https://t.co/dju9sLsg6a">https://t.co/dju9sLsg6a</a><a href="https://t.co/v9fNKDx5tU">https://t.co/v9fNKDx5tU</a> <a href="https://t.co/vT0i0mOIcz">pic.twitter.com/vT0i0mOIcz</a>
&mdash; Sports 1440 (@Sports1440) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sports1440/status/1865950497468977244?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote>&#8220;I think back at this as just a beautiful moment in my life. [Agent] Ritch Winter was in that room actually, and Ken Holland called us in for a meeting. Ritch was there and we wanted more ice time. I wanted more ice time and I was a healthy scratch a lot. And Ken Holland looked at me and he said &#8216;Do you know what you are, Slater?&#8217; I said &#8216;No, tell me.&#8217; And he said &#8216;You&#8217;re a clock killer.  You don&#8217;t do anything positive on the ice, but you don&#8217;t do anything negative either.&#8217;
Honestly Jason, after that meeting, I really evaluated my life in the sense of &#8216;You&#8217;re going to come on me that I don&#8217;t do anything positive and don&#8217;t do anything negative with the struggles that I&#8217;m going through every day on a day to day basis?&#8217;  Okay, I&#8217;ll re-evaluate what I&#8217;m doing with my time and I&#8217;ll show you the positive impact I can make on the world.
That ended up not being hockey. It wasn&#8217;t something that I wanted to continue my fight on a day to day basis on the sense of the hockey side. It ended up being pursuing other life goals and pursuing things that I want in my life on the business side or on the personal side and that&#8217;s what that turned me to. But that was ultimately a huge moment for me.&#8221;</blockquote>
Kudos to Koekkoek for being open about what must have been a devastating conversation to have about him as a hockey player. It&#8217;s easy to let emotions take over when hearing yourself being referred to as a &#8216;clock killer&#8217; but he instead used it as an incentive to change the course of his life to make a positive impact on the world outside of hockey.
This in combination <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-defenceman-slater-koekkoek-opens-up-on-battle-with-anxiety-a-year-after-stepping-away-from-hockey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with his long battle with anxiety</a>, in which he admitted that there were long stretches he couldn&#8217;t have pre-game meals, resulted in him retiring from the NHL before turning 30 years old. It may be an unfortunate end of a career for a player originally selected 10th overall in the 2012 Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, yet Koekkoek is not letting that define him.
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&quot;My anxiety would show up in my inability to eat before games. I would avoid going to dinner at times, because I was worried I wouldn&#39;t be able to eat and I didn&#39;t want to talk about it with my teammates at the time,&quot; Koekkoek. @sports1400
&mdash; Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonGregor/status/1864452717709808090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Since stepping away from the game in 2022, he founded a construction company called <a href="https://www.fulfillservices.ca/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fulfill Home Services.</a> It provides custom builds, interlock repair and maintenance, and yard work among other services to those in the Ottawa area at an affordable price while emphasizing establishing connections in the community.
Over his nine-year career, Koekkoek appeared in 186 NHL games between the Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers scoring eight goals and 34 points. He also appeared in 187 AHL games scoring 12 goals and 56 points. He last played a professional game with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on Feb. 14th, 2022.

Former Edmonton Oilers defenceman Slater Koekkoek revealed what went down at the end of his time with the team during the 2021-22 season.

During a recent appearance on The Jason Gregor Show on Sports 1440 in Edmonton, he recalled a meeting with then-GM Ken Holland that took place during his final season in the NHL. What Koekkoek was told by Holland may been a tough pill to swallow but he used it as motivation to get his life beyond the game going in the right direction.



https://twitter.com/Sports1440/status/1865950497468977244?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1865950497468977244%7Ctwgr%5E94014009ac43c3af55e67a15b1a5c327d5e5dea9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oilersdaily.com%2Fnhl-team%2Fedmonton-oilers%2Fformer-oilers-defenceman-reveals-the-words-from-ken-holland-that-ended-his-career
<blockquote>"I think back at this as just a beautiful moment in my life. [Agent] Ritch Winter was in that room actually, and Ken Holland called us in for a meeting. Ritch was there and we wanted more ice time. I wanted more ice time and I was a healthy scratch a lot. And Ken Holland looked at me and he said 'Do you know what you are, Slater?' I said 'No, tell me.' And he said 'You're a clock killer.  You don't do anything positive on the ice, but you don't do anything negative either.'

Honestly Jason, after that meeting, I really evaluated my life in the sense of 'You're going to come on me that I don't do anything positive and don't do anything negative with the struggles that I'm going through every day on a day to day basis?'  Okay, I'll re-evaluate what I'm doing with my time and I'll show you the positive impact I can make on the world.

That ended up not being hockey. It wasn't something that I wanted to continue my fight on a day to day basis on the sense of the hockey side. It ended up being pursuing other life goals and pursuing things that I want in my life on the business side or on the personal side and that's what that turned me to. But that was ultimately a huge moment for me."</blockquote>
Kudos to Koekkoek for being open about what must have been a devastating conversation to have about him as a hockey player. It's easy to let emotions take over when hearing yourself being referred to as a 'clock killer' but he instead used it as an incentive to change the course of his life to make a positive impact on the world outside of hockey.

This in combination <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-defenceman-slater-koekkoek-opens-up-on-battle-with-anxiety-a-year-after-stepping-away-from-hockey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with his long battle with anxiety</a>, in which he admitted that there were long stretches he couldn't have pre-game meals, resulted in him retiring from the NHL before turning 30 years old. It may be an unfortunate end of a career for a player originally selected 10th overall in the 2012 Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, yet Koekkoek is not letting that define him.

https://twitter.com/JasonGregor/status/1864452717709808090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1864452717709808090%7Ctwgr%5E94014009ac43c3af55e67a15b1a5c327d5e5dea9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oilersdaily.com%2Fnhl-team%2Fedmonton-oilers%2Fformer-oilers-defenceman-reveals-the-words-from-ken-holland-that-ended-his-career

Since stepping away from the game in 2022, he founded a construction company called <a href="https://www.fulfillservices.ca/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fulfill Home Services.</a> It provides custom builds, interlock repair and maintenance, and yard work among other services to those in the Ottawa area at an affordable price while emphasizing establishing connections in the community.

Over his nine-year career, Koekkoek appeared in 186 NHL games between the Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers scoring eight goals and 34 points. He also appeared in 187 AHL games scoring 12 goals and 56 points. He last played a professional game with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on Feb. 14th, 2022.

Former Oiler opens up about end of NHL career: ‘You don’t do anything positive on the ice, but you don’t do anything negative either’

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