The Seattle Kraken had a busy offseason by way of prolonged contracts. By way of the 2028-29 season, Matty Beniers, Chandler Stephenson, Brandon Montour, and Adam Larsson will all be underneath contract because of the workforce’s willingness to spend. However even with their 2024-25 marketing campaign underway, they’re nonetheless meting out the dough. Per Elliotte Friedman, the Kraken signed goaltender Joey Daccord to a five-year extension with a mean annual worth (AAV) of $5 million. The deal gained’t kick in till subsequent season, as he has a present cap hit of $1.2 million.
Joey DAccord extends in Seattle…listening to 5x$5M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 9, 2024
Of maybe the entire huge contracts Seattle signed within the offseason, this appears to be the riskiest play but in addition one that might seem like a genius transfer sooner or later. Daccord is a 28-year-old netminder who had simply 19 video games of subpar NHL expertise to his identify previous to his 2023-24 marketing campaign. Nevertheless, his performances within the American Hockey League (AHL) main as much as that season had been spectacular, most notably serving to the Coachella Valley Firebirds advance to the 2023 Calder Cup Remaining. Then, he obtained his probability with the massive membership.
In his final outing, Daccord was quietly one of many greatest goaltenders within the NHL. His 19-18-11 document could have simply been common, however he put up a .916 save proportion (SV%), 2.46 goals-against common (GAA), 16.7 objectives saved above common (GSAA), and 10.96 objectives saved above anticipated (GSAx). His high-paid associate in crime, Philipp Grubauer, stopped 89.9 of each 100 pictures he confronted in his earlier marketing campaign. Alternatively, Daccord turned apart 91.6 pictures per 100 that had been on the right track. That differential (an additional 1.7 saves per 100 pictures) may not appear to be so much, however that may make an enormous distinction.
Whereas Daccord was terrific final season, he’s an older goalie with one standout NHL season and never a lot else in that division. The reward right here is clear, which is that he’s the identical participant he was in 2023-24 at some stage in the contract. Nevertheless, there’s at all times the flipside of instantaneous regression. Unproven netminders who get huge offers can grow to be liabilities to their groups in a short time, because the ups and downs of goaltenders could be extra drastic than any place on the ice.
Common supervisor (GM) Ron Francis and the Kraken made a high-risk, high-reward maneuver by extending Daccord. If the veteran goaltender is really among the finest within the enterprise, this could possibly be a steal. If he overachieved, this could possibly be a catastrophe. There’s at all times the potential for this being someplace within the center, however the extremes are each believable outcomes.
