Seattle Kraken – Daccord Injury Pushes Goalies Grubauer And Murray Into Spotlight

On the surface, the Seattle Kraken appear to be off to one of the best starts in franchise history. The team sits third in the Pacific Division with a record of 7-4-4 (18 points) and owns a points percentage (PTS%) of .600 through 15 games. This clip puts them on pace for 98 points over 82 games, a total which would represent a 22-point increase over last season.

Where concern begins to creep in is with the underlying numbers, particularly at five-on-five. Despite new head coach Lane Lambert overseeing a significant improvement in Seattle’s quality and volume of scoring chances conceded per game, the same cannot be said about their attack. They are generating shots and chances at the worst rates in the league by a wide margin, wiping away any positives created by their defensive strategies.

The Kraken’s complete lack of offense shifts the responsibility onto the team’s goaltenders when it comes to procuring results on a nightly basis. An easier workload aside, Seattle’s triumvirate of Joey Daccord, Matt Murray, and Philipp Grubauer know they have to be near perfect for the team to earn a win because they cannot rely on a steady stream of goal support. With a recent injury to Daccord (the Kraken’s starting goaltender), the other two members of the trio will have to pull their weight to keep Seattle’s season afloat.

Daccord Continues to Assume Starting Role in Kraken Crease

Before we dive too far into the doom and gloom, it should be noted that the extent of Daccord’s injury has yet to be revealed, but he did not join the Kraken on their two-game road trip this past weekend. Even so, Daccord has arguably been the team’s most valuable player since assuming the starting role a few seasons ago, and his impact is undeniable despite some signs of strain to start the season.

Daccord has accumulated the seventh-most GSAx among all NHL goalies over the past three seasons, meaning he has significantly outperformed his workload according to Evolving Hockey’s statistical models. Raw SV% doesn’t take the quality of chances faced into account, which is why I put more emphasis on GSAx than the more traditional GAA and SV%, both of which still view Daccord quite favorably compared to his positional peers. The uncertainty surrounding his health is more alarming when considering how the team’s other goaltenders have fared in recent seasons, and could determine the fate of Seattle’s season.

Grubauer has only posted a positive GSAx in one of his five seasons with the organization (2022-23) and has allowed the most goals above expected since the 2021-22 campaign, according to Evolving Hockey. Despite being in the conversation for the league’s worst goalie relative to expectation, he is the 16th-highest-paid goalie in the NHL this season and will continue to make $5.9 million against the cap through the end of 2026-27. The soon-to-be 34-year-old has proven time and time again that he can no longer be relied upon in a starting capacity, and could instead force Lambert to lean on the journeyman Murray.

At only age 31, Murray has experienced all of the highs and lows that professional sports have to offer. His career began with a Stanley Cup win in both of his first two NHL seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, playing a total of 32 games over those two playoff runs. Murray then struggled with injuries over the next few seasons and was eventually traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2020 and later to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022. 

Further issues with concussions along with bilateral hip surgery limited Murray to only 52 total NHL and AHL games between the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons where he struggled to find consistency in his play between extended stints on the sidelines. The Kraken saw enough in his time with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies (.934 SV% in 21 appearances last season) to toss him an NHL life raft, and he will now have the opportunity to leapfrog at least Grubauer in the pecking order.

Murray ranks within the top 32 leaguewide in both GSAx and SV% (approximately an average starter) among goalies with at least three games played. He’s only making $1 million against the cap this season and is playing for his NHL career at this point, so running with a highly motivated player isn’t the worst option considering the circumstances. 

Daccord has also played in 118 games since the start of the 2023-24 season, ranking 10th in the league over that span. He himself was a minor-league journeyman with a career-high of only 38 games in the AHL the year before snatching the starting role from Grubauer. He needs the relief before his health becomes an ongoing concern, and one of the Kraken’s alternatives needs to step up and provide it going forward if the 2025-26 season is to be a success.

Kraken Spending A Lot of Cap on Goaltending

While the NHL’s salary cap has and will continue to rise significantly for the next few seasons, that doesn’t mean that teams should spend their cap space with reckless abandon.

According to PuckPedia, the Kraken are spending the league’s fourth-highest sum of cap space on goaltending at $11.9 million between Grubauer ($5.9 million), Daccord ($5 million), and Murray ($1 million). They should technically rank third on that list, given that the highest-spending team in the crease (the San Jose Sharks at $15 million) is carrying Carey Price’s $10.5 million contract despite him being effectively retired since 2022 due to a career-ending injury.

The Kraken are in the top five of the league by SV% at five-on-five, but right around league-average in all situations. They need a much better return on investment from their netminders, especially since Daccord’s (deserved) raise last summer took away from money that could have been spent to reinforce the roster elsewhere. If one of Murray or Grubauer can elevate their play, the Kraken’s fortunes this season look much brighter.

Data courtesy of Evolving Hockey, Natural Stat Trick, and the NHL.