The Tampa Bay Lightning announced this morning that they have assigned Slater Koekkoek to the Syracuse Crunch for a conditioning assignment. Koekkoek has only played in nine games this season and hasn’t been in the lineup since November 19th. He played less than ten minutes in that game. The conditioning stint allows Koekkoek to go to the Crunch without clearing waivers. He’ll have to return to the Lightning within fourteen days.
The assignment to Syracuse gives him the chance to get some minutes. That’s unlikely to happen in Tampa unless the team suffers multiple injuries on defense.