Goaltending Dilemma, Who Should be the Kraken Starting Goalie

Taking a look back at last season, one of the many concerns regarding the Seattle Kraken roster was their goaltending dilemma. With a new season upon us, what exactly should they do about who is #1 and #2?

After not making the playoffs, and seemingly not making much of a splash in the goalie market, it will be up to these two as to who should be the starter. Let's try and make sense of it.

Joey Daccord

In many Kraken fans opinions, it seems that Daccord should be the starter going forward. He held a majority of the starts last season, performed admirably in most of them, and overall did enough to keep himself at the NHL level for at least another full season in 2024-25.

In 50 games, Daccord was 19-18-11 with three of those wins being shutouts. He stopped .916 percent of the shots he faced, which mirrored some of the top goalies in the NHL. Additionally, he only allowed an average of 2.46 goals-against in those games last season, which is a very respectful number.

In all honesty, and with stats to support it, Daccord would have likely been a top-five goalie last season if the Kraken could provide him with some offense. He was a stud in the net, and the Kraken skaters failed him. Let's not forget to mention, this is a contract year for him, meaning his current deal is over once the 2024-25 season ends. With a fire under him to prove he is worthy of a new deal, he could potentially lead this team back to playoffs on his own.

Phillip Grubauer

As the backup last season, Phillip Grubauer was plagued by the burden of Daccord last season. But, the only difference was that Grubauer was a little bit weaker between the pipes than Daccord.

in 36 games, he was 14-16-2, with a save percentage of .899. Since coming over to Seattle in the expansion draft from Colorado, he has been sub .900 in save percentage with last season being the highest. That is not good enough from any goaltender, never mind a former Vezina Trophy finalist.

Who Should Get The Nod?

So what makes the most sense? Giving Daccord another crack at bringing the Kraken back to the postseason as the starter? Or, believing that Grubauer still has something left in the tank after three lackluster years with the team?

It makes all the more sense to keep Daccord as the starter and Grubauer in the backup role for 2024-25. These two will likely be splitting a lot of time this season, but if one gets hot, don't be surprised if the roles reverse at some point.

Daccord is the right choice to be the starter, at least for me, do you agree?