If the Seattle Kraken complete a successful push for the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, they can look back with pride on victories like the 4-3 nail-biter versus the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. While Andre Burakovsky got the headlines for scoring the late winner, the Kraken’s surprise weapon this season played a crucial role. Rising from the deep is 27-year-old goaltender Joel “Joey” Daccord.
Before December, it would have been perfectly understandable for most fans to ask, “Joey who?” In the spirit of transparency, even this author had never heard of Daccord. But when the Kraken’s number one netminder Philipp Grubauer went down with an upper-body injury in early December, it was finally Daccord’s time to shine.
Joey Daccord Gets Called Upon
The old saying that patience is a virtue holds a lot of value. A similar adage reminds us that good things come to those who wait. The Bostonian surely holds each dear to his heart. After years of playing third — if not fourth — fiddle, the 2023-2024 campaign has finally been the one where Daccord has proven his worth to his peers and opponents.
Seattle’s established number-one remains Grubauer. After all, the German netminder is, so far, the only goalie in franchise history to not only lead the club to the postseason but win a playoff series – the Kraken upset the Colorado Avalanche in the first round last spring. So, when it became clear that Grubauer was going to miss significant playing time, all eyes switched to Daccord.
It’s not just that Daccord became a starter for the first time in his five-year NHL career, but he had only appeared in 19 matches in his first four seasons and goals were at a premium in Seattle, with the Kraken averaging 2.76 goals per game (28th in the league).
Saving the Day and Maybe the Kraken’s Season
These days, when head coach Dave Hakstol gives Grubauer the night off, as was the case in Winnipeg, the team can jump onto the ice knowing they still have a good shot at winning the game.
In 25 contests since Dec. 9 – which include a few after Grubauer’s return — Daccord has a 12-8-5 record. Overall, in 40 contests, he’s posted a 2.47 goals-against average (GAA) and a .918 save percentage (SV%). Those figures are crucial for a club that struggles to score goals. Of all NHL netminders who have played 40 games or more this season, only two have a better GAA: the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck and the Florida Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky. Daccord is also fifth in SV% as only Hellebuyck, Bobrovsky, the Boston Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman, and the Vegas Golden Knights’ Adin Hill surpass him in the rankings. By any metric, that’s good company.
He guarded Seattle’s crease during the team’s longest winning streak of the season, which started on Dec. 20 against the Los Angeles Kings and concluded on Jan. 13 when the Pittsburgh Penguins finally found a way to defeat the Kraken after nine other opponents had tried and failed. Realistically, that string of victories is a big reason why the Kraken are even in the race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Daccord’s Confidence and the Kraken’s
The winning streak began with a narrow 2-1 victory over the Kings. Daccord didn’t merely prevent Los Angeles from scoring more than once, but he also tied a franchise record with 42 saves that night. Fun fact: it matched his own record from October versus the club that drafted him, the Ottawa Senators.
He’s taking it all in stride. Said Daccord in the post-game interview: “It’s always nice to get off to a good start. When you get peppered with pucks, it helps you definitely to settle down a little bit quicker” (from Associated Press, Dec. 21, 2023).
The undisputed highlight of his season was the Winter Classic on Jan. 1, a 3-0 win over the defending champions Golden Knights. A good opponent replete with winning DNA, over 43,000 fans watching, a magical setting, and a second career shutout.
Said teammate Matty Beniers after the Winter Classic: “You always talk about goalies and what a really good goalie is, and the best way to describe it is he saves the ones he needs to, and then he saves the one or two more that he shouldn’t save” (from Associated Press, Jan. 1, 2024).
There was more of that against the Jets the other night, making saves he was supposed to make and then some he probably shouldn’t have.
The Kraken sit 10th in the Western Conference, six points adrift of the second wild-card seed. Given how splendid Daccord’s season has been thus far, his name could called up a few more times in crucial spots before all is said and done. He has certainly earned it.
