Tampa Bay Lightning Free Agents: Should they stay or should they go?

Name: Slater Koekkoek

Age: 25

Position: D

Free Agent Status: Restricted

Slater Koekkoek should have played a lot more games than he did this season.  Appearing in just 35 games, he recorded four goals and four assists to go along with a plus-4 plus/minus rating.  He commonly found himself as a healthy scratch, with Andrej Sustr drawing in over him.

It’s seemed like the Lightning coaching staff has almost prevented Koekkoek from getting on the ice.  In the games he’s appeared in, he’s proven himself to be a solid addition to the Lightning’s blue line, but he hasn’t seen the ice enough to develop like he should.

This season, he averaged around 11 minutes of play time per game.  If he played the majority of the season, that would still be a pretty small total, but he played less than half of the Bolts’ games and not a single playoff game.  How can a young defenseman develop without seeing the ice?

Verdict: Stay.  The Tampa Bay Lightning would be remiss to not re-sign Koekkoek, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s playing for another team next season.

The Lightning has treated Koekkoek pretty poorly, especially considering that it’s not uncommon for them to go with seven defensemen.  If he’ll let them, Koekkoek should be re-signed, and in my opinion, should replace the aging Braydon Coburn in the Lightning’s lineup.