More bad press from The Athletic. This time they're ranking us the 4th worst goalie situation in the league, considering current quality, future prospects, and cap situation.
29. Seattle Kraken
Current: 16
Granger: The Kraken have signed some pretty bad goalie contracts over their short history, but Joey Daccord came in with a brilliant rookie season to rescue them. Considering his long road to this point, and the fickle nature of the position, I’m not quite ready to crown Daccord, but if he maintains last year’s form moving forward, Seattle certainly belongs higher on this list.
Future: 29
Wheeler: The Kraken have a number of goalie prospects, but I’m really only much of a believer in 20-year-old Niklas Kokko, who has put together a respectable profile across parts of three seasons in Liiga already. Kim Saarinen, whom they drafted in the third round in 2024, has size, is a summer birthday, and has some believers in Finland, would be their No. 2 goalie prospect for me. I don’t know what they saw in free agent signing Victor Ostman, and both Visa Vedenpaa and Semyon Vyazovoy (he had a good year in the VHL last year but is 21) don’t look like they’re on paths to get signed.
Cap: 29
McIndoe: At $5.9 million for another three years on a 32-year-old who hasn’t hit .900 since Colorado, Philipp Grubauer is arguably among the worst goalie contracts in the league right now. The only saving grace here is that Daccord is cheap, but even that’s a double-edged sword because he has just one year left and properly pricing an extension for a career depth guy with one good year will be tricky.
Bottom line: Daccord’s out-of-nowhere heroics last year cloud the picture here, while probably saving the Kraken from an even worse ranking.
by juanthebaker
3 Comments
Stop reading this drivel. They glance at stat sheets and make clickbait articles and it’s sadly working.
What is wrong about any of this? Gru’s contract is terrible for what he’s produced, there are no elite prospects at the position, and middle of the road with current talent is about right. But that ignores how long it takes to develop a prospect pool that is set at every position so it’s not like it’s a disaster.
So ranked solidly middle of the league today with Grubauer and Daccord but a weak outlook in our prospect pool? I’d say that’s pretty fair. If Joey can be the future guy we’re in better shape but since he’s 28 next month we probably do need a really good prospect in the pipeline in the next year or two. Nothing to worry about urgently that’s for sure unless he or Gru has a major drop off or injury. We could also see a major Gru resurgence under Bylsma’s scheme, who knows?