Former NHL defenceman Slater Koekkoek reveals how a meeting with former GM Ken Holland made him walk away from the league

[The Burdened]

 

[GMR]

He should have asked Holland if that means he would sign him to a five year contract with an NTC.

 

[Fatass]

Sounds like a compliment. This is a guy that a coach would want on the ice late in the game holding on to the lead. He’s a “clock killer”.

 

[OilersFanatics505]

Oh no, my job is paying me millions of dollars to just be average at my job and doesn’t expect me to perform above real expectations.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

This sounds very unHolland like

That's true. Him being awake is very unlike him.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

The comment describes dozens of pro hockey players.

I'd like to know what percentage of the general white collar workforce are essentially "clock killers." Has to be significant.

 

[brentashton]

Ken wasn’t wrong.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Babcock would have asked him to make a list of the most impactful defensemen on the roster and then asked to see his phone

 

[EXTRAS]

The irony being that after he quit hockey he started picking up casual shifts as an unskilled labourer and finding more fulfillment in that than sitting on a bench. Now he's started his own business where he helps labourers (often of the minimum wage variety) find work.

Maybe but he also could have finished 2 or 3 more years making 800k and then done that. Leaving a couple million on the table in your 20s seems unadvisable.

 

[DingerMcSlapshot]

Maybe but he also could have finished 2 or 3 more years making 800k and then done that. Leaving a couple million on the table in your 20s seems unadvisable.

He was done. Shoulders were destroyed.

 

[Acallabeth]

Oh no, my job is paying me millions of dollars to just be average at my job and doesn’t expect me to perform above real expectations.

Just average at the job with ridiculously high standards, I must say.

 

[Paper]

Maybe but he also could have finished 2 or 3 more years making 800k and then done that. Leaving a couple million on the table in your 20s seems unadvisable.

Or he could do something that was better for his mental health that he was struggling with. He wasn't hurting for money, his wife is also from money, at least not hurting, and now he has a business that appears to be taking off. And he is happy.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Former Oilers Defenseman reveals the words from Ken Holland that ended his career

He played in two seasons with the Oilers, only a total of 37 games, before calling it a career.

www.yardbarker.com

if calling him a "clock killer" made him walk away from the league, maybe the issues begin with Koekoek

pretty harmless "criticism"
change the misleading thread title

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Didn't even realize Slatter retired. Just another dime a dozen run of the mill dman who is just a warm body on the ice.

 

[tanti9]

I am conflicted in this, I think Holland could have handled the situation differently (player management) but it is not his job to make players happy but to ice the best team he can to win the Stanley Cup. Some players need different types of motivation (different type of society than 30 years ago) and it is the coaches or managements best interest to get the best out of player's they have brought in.

Also, as an individual you have chosen your pathway of gaining employment in this world. Slatter worked his way up to becoming only a few % of people to play in the NHL. Maybe, he stalled at this point and realized he was not going to be there long term. If he was not cut for this mentally, there is a long list of people not making it other professions. I hope the best for Slatter and hope he finds his way.

 

[sepster]

"the type of old-school mentality that needs to be eliminated from hockey"

Ok, snowflake. Go grow a pair.

**EDIT: For those who don't read the articles, this is a shot at the author of the article, not the player. I'm glad KoekKoek was self-aware enough to evaluate what is important to him and act on it. That's something to be proud of.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Didn't read the article but not sure why anyone would find being a "clock killer" or doing "nothing negative or positive" to be insulting?

One of the biggest strategies in all sports is possession. If my opponent doesn't have the ball/puck, they can't score against me. A big part of possession is about killing the clock, with occasional offense scattered in. Being a clock killer and having nothing happen when you are on the ice is a good thing.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

 

[hamzarocks]

Didn't read the article but not sure why anyone would find being a "clock killer" or doing "nothing negative or positive" to be insulting?

One of the biggest strategies in all sports is possession. If my opponent doesn't have the ball/puck, they can't score against me. A big part of possession is about killing the clock, with occasional offense scattered in. Being a clock killer and having nothing happen when you are on the ice is a good thing.

it is fine at times but other times you wont last long if you are a bland vanilla guy who plays soft/low usage competition and doesnt produce/bring physical ppay/intangibles (which is basically if you are well liked in lockerroom and have a leadership role)

Leafs have had many clockkillers in the playoffs during the current era

Mikheyev, Engvall, Kerfoot (besides thst MTL series), Jarnkrok, Nick Robertson, Holmberg etc,

To many times not being able to get anything from L3 and L4 has cost us in the playoffs (along with core guys sucking and goalies usually being unclutch)

Koekkoek was a high 1st so realizing his career folded the way it did has to be disapointing initally.

 

[Soundwave]

If you can't take some blunt (and sometimes even brutal) assessment of your performance, then pro sports isn't really for you. It's part of the gig and it's not for everyone (it's only for a tiny percentage of the population). Happy for Koekkoek if he's happier doing something else, no shame in that.

Just making the NHL is an unreal life accomplishment that hundreds of thousands of people try to accomplish and fail at and millions of others would have no chance of, so that's something to be proud of too. And he probably has at least a couple of million to show for that too, which isn't bad. Most people will never make multiple millions, let alone 1 million in their life.

So he can feel good about all of that at least. In large part he already "won" the game of life, there's a lot of people who would give their left nut to be drafted into the NHL (or NBA or NFL or MLB or whatever) and make some where in the range of 7 million USD in career earnings.

Even in the NHL, there has to be a lot of "average" and even "below average" players, otherwise star players would be nothing special. By definition the average/mean has to be (well) below the cream of the crop which is only about 100/700 players tops.

 

[bucks_oil]

I’ve heard more cutting comments between players on the ice.

Pretty tame “insult” to make you reconsider your career.

Meh... my take on it is that it struck home because Slater sorta realized it was true. He had to decide whether he was truly going to be a difference maker in the NHL or not... and realized maybe it was time to move onto something where he could. Sounds like it was a motivating event for him even if Holland is still on his "I'll show you" list.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

I’ve heard more cutting comments between players on the ice.

Pretty tame “insult” to make you reconsider your career.

Doesn't sound like he's taking it as an insult to me. It made him re-evaluate his career is all.

 

[Kocur Dill]

The world needs ditch-diggers too.

 

[Ciao]

Maybe he was on a two-way contract.

 

[Fantomas]

i still remember Kookoo being drafted and tv announcers saying he'd be the yin to Hedman's yang for years to come. Went just ahead of Filip Forsberg if I remember correctly.