The Seattle Kraken had a busy offseason in terms of lengthy contracts. Through the 2028-29 season, Matty Beniers, Chandler Stephenson, Brandon Montour, and Adam Larsson will all be under contract thanks to the team’s willingness to spend. But even with their 2024-25 campaign underway, they’re still dishing out the dough. Per Elliotte Friedman, the Kraken signed goaltender Joey Daccord to a five-year extension with an average annual value (AAV) of $5 million. The deal won’t kick in until next season, as he has a current cap hit of $1.2 million.
Joey DAccord extends in Seattle…hearing 5x$5M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 9, 2024
Of perhaps all of the big contracts Seattle signed in the offseason, this seems to be the riskiest play but also one that could look like a genius move in the future. Daccord is a 28-year-old netminder who had just 19 games of subpar NHL experience to his name prior to his 2023-24 campaign. However, his performances in the American Hockey League (AHL) leading up to that season were spectacular, most notably helping the Coachella Valley Firebirds advance to the 2023 Calder Cup Final. Then, he got his chance with the big club.
In his last outing, Daccord was quietly one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. His 19-18-11 record may have just been average, but he put up a .916 save percentage (SV%), 2.46 goals-against average (GAA), 16.7 goals saved above average (GSAA), and 10.96 goals saved above expected (GSAx). His high-paid partner in crime, Philipp Grubauer, stopped 89.9 of every 100 shots he faced in his previous campaign. On the other hand, Daccord turned aside 91.6 shots per 100 that were on target. That differential (an extra 1.7 saves per 100 shots) might not seem like a lot, but that can make a huge difference.
While Daccord was terrific last season, he’s an older goalie with one standout NHL season and not much else in that department. The reward here is evident, which is that he is the same player he was in 2023-24 for the duration of the contract. However, there’s always the flipside of instant regression. Unproven netminders who get big deals can become liabilities to their teams very quickly, as the ups and downs of goaltenders can be more drastic than any position on the ice.
General manager (GM) Ron Francis and the Kraken made a high-risk, high-reward maneuver by extending Daccord. If the veteran goaltender is truly one of the best in the business, this could be a steal. If he overachieved, this could be a disaster. There’s always the possibility of this being somewhere in the middle, but the extremes are both plausible outcomes.
