Kraken Need Bounce-Back Season From Goalie Joey Daccord
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Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord (35) takes a puck off his mask in a game against the Winnipeg Jets in the third period at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images [/caption]
There has been much discussion on how the Seattle Kraken can improve this offseason from their disappointing 34-37-11 season. From possible trades, free agent signings, the internal audit of the organization, and the draft, the fanbase has many opinions on what must be done for Seattle to turn the corner and get back to the playoffs.
One thing that is flying under the radar among the persistent Shane Wright trade rumors and free agency is the underwhelming performance of goalie Joey Daccord last year.
Daccord signed a five-year, $25 million contract ahead of the 2024-2025 season after showing flashes of brilliance the year before. He followed that up with a solid campaign, finishing eighth in the NHL in quality starts and 10th in saves. By most metrics, he was a top-half-of-the-league goalie. He had fully taken the starting job from Philipp Grubauer and made the Kraken look smart to give him that extension.
Then, last season happened. For whatever reason, things did not click as well for Daccord in 2025-26.
In the Arizona State product’s defense, he dealt with nagging injuries that limited him to 47 games and affected consistency. A finger can certainly be pointed in the direction of the Kraken’s defense as well. The blue line struggled with allowing easy chances for opponents, leaving Daccord in tough situations frequently. Either way, it was a far cry from his solid season the previous campaign.
Among 66 goalies with at least 20 games played last year, Daccord ranked 62nd in high danger saves above expected. He simply was not boosting the Kraken with his net-minding like he did the previous season, further exacerbated by the team’s obvious defensive issues in front of him.
If the Kraken are going to have any hope of turning things around quickly next season, it needs to start in the net. All this talk of improving the roster in Lane Lambert’s second season at the helm is all for naught if Daccord is subpar again and can’t return to his 2024-25 form.
Grubauer started off last season very well as his backup. In fact, during the first half of the season, he and Daccord were one of the better one-two goalie punches on any NHL roster. However, they fell off a cliff hard in the second half and especially after the Olympic break.
On the last year of his contract, Grubauer hasn’t proven himself to be reliable enough to be the starting goalie at this point. Daccord has four more years left on his current deal and remains Seattle’s best option at goalie, especially if they can’t count on Grubauer beyond this year. He needs to be better in 2026-27.
Again, some of the struggles last season were not all his fault. Hopefully, a season of refinement on defense will naturally lead to better numbers for Daccord. Even if he can simply return to the numbers we saw from him in 2024-25, that would give this team a huge boost.
It’s impossible to pin all of Seattle’s struggles on their goalies last season. Some of it was simply the system and personnel in front of the goalies. However, Daccord and Grubauer are not guilt-free either. The big issue is many of those things are still in place for this coming season. It’s up to Lambert to make the necessary changes in-house to support the goalie tandem unless a major external addition is made.
