Dotchin is an interesting question to me. On the one hand there is a very strong argument for trading him:
- He regressed in a huge way last season.
- With Stralman, Sergachev, and Girardi ahead of him on the right side he isn’t likely to see any playing time next season except in the event of injury or an occasional day off for one of the other RDs.
- If we’re going to give a seventh defenseman a significant amount of playing time next season it should be Koekkoek who has a higher ceiling than Dotchin and a puckmoving and offensive skillset that we could use more of in our blueline, and who unlike Dotchin has never been given a real opportunity to show what he can do with consistent playing time.
- At the same time since he’s waiver-eligible we can’t send him back to the AHL to hone his skills, so he’s likely to spend the bulk of the season in the press box which obviously isn’t going to help him develop.
- With Sergachev playing the right side going forward and Foote and Cernak knocking at the door Dotchin’s future in Tampa doesn’t look any better than his present.
All that being the case I would be perfectly happy if he never plays another shift for the Lightning and we trade him this offseason for whatever we can get. But at the same time I’m not so certain we’re going to do that; here’s why:
- After next season we’re going to be losing Stralman and Girardi from the right side and while it’s highly likely that both Cernak and Foote will be ready by then there’s no guarantee that will be the case.
- Even if Cernak and Foote are ready we don’t have another NHL-caliber RD behind them in the event of injury; I suppose in that situation we could move McDonagh to the right and have Koekkoek and Masin behind Hedman on the left, but that assumes that Koekkoek is still around at that point which is also not guaranteed.
- We don’t have enough playing time to go around to be worth giving Dotchin’s roster spot to another young defenseman, but at the same time it doesn’t make sense to give that spot to a rookie forward who would also spend most of his time in the press box. So unless we bring in a cheap veteran for depth purposes at either forward or defense it’s unlikely we’ll have a more pressing use for Dotchin’s roster spot.
- As big of a proponent of Koekkoek as I am, he seems to be perpetually on Cooper’s shit list for some reason, so I’m not so certain if the Lightning do carry seven defensemen next season that Koekkoek won’t be the odd man out instead of Dotchin.
- Above all Dotchin represents cheap depth that we don’t mind allowing to rot in the press box until such time as he’s needed. We don’t really need that this season but we will the following one after half our starting blue line walks, so unless we can find a better use for his roster spot or are getting something worthwhile for him there’s no real reason to trade him.
So while I personally hope we do move him, both to clear the way for better young defensemen and so I never have to watch one of his bonehead plays again, I won’t be surprised if we keep him around. As big a critic of Dotchin as I am unless we can find a better use for his roster spot it’s probably worth turning down the likes of a fourth round pick just to carry him as cheap disposable depth.