By: Rebecca Tauber, Shayna Goldman and Thomas Drance
Joey Daccord signed a five-year extension with the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday that carries an average annual value of $5 million, according to league sources.
The 28-year-old goalie had a breakout year last season, his first as a full-time NHL goalie.
Daccord was selected with the 199th pick in the 2015 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators, but was left exposed in the 2021 NHL expansion draft. The Kraken selected the goalie in that draft and after two seasons spent between Seattle and the club’s minor league affiliates, Daccord spent all of last season with the big club, appearing in 50 games.
Now Daccord is tied to Seattle until the 2030 season.
What it means for the Kraken
Daccord nearly saved Seattle’s 2023-24 season, single-handedly stabilizing the club’s play in goal after winning the starter’s job in late November.
Now the club has rewarded him with a significant extension, one that telegraphs his hold on the starter’s job ahead of Philipp Grubauer for the 2024-25 campaign and, perhaps, the probability that Grubauer’s Kraken tenure may come to a premature end following this season.
The extension for Daccord is an aggressive one.
As impressive as Daccord’s performance was in his first season as an NHL starter, this is still a $25 million commitment for an NHL goaltender with just 69 games of NHL-level experience. The Kraken, however, are apparently comfortable projecting that Daccord will be able to sustain the level of play he managed during his stellar 2023-24 campaign.
While Daccord is talented and solid, and a uniquely gifted puck handler too, the club is taking on a fair bit of risk at the sport’s most volatile position with this deal.
The club is also now locked into nearly $11 million in combined salary cap commitments in net for the 2025-26 season, given that Grubauer will be entering the final year of his $5.9 million deal. Grubauer’s Kraken experience has been disappointing. The former Vezina nominee has never managed a save percentage north of .900 since arriving in the Pacific Northwest.
Daccord’s new deal would seem to place Grubauer firmly on the list of top potential buyouts to track following this season. — Thomas Drance, senior NHL writer
How Daccord’s deal lines up with other recent goalie signings
The Daccord extension fits with the theme of the Kraken offseason. General manager Ron Francis has never been a big, splashy spender. But this summer, he took bigger swings than usual in free agency with Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson, along with the Matty Beniers extension. This signing both solidifies and crowds the salary cap for the Kraken in goal.
It’s been a busy week for goalies around the league, with the Jeremy Swayman signing on Sunday, Linus Ullmark extension Wednesday, and rumors swirling around Igor Shesterkin’s next contract. The Daccord deal is the most low-key of the four for good reason — he doesn’t have the same track record as the rest of the group.
A $5 million AAV doesn’t scream bonafide number one, it says solid 1A which seems like a fair bar for Dacord to reach. It puts him in a class with the likes of Grubauer, Elvis Merzlikins, and Tristian Jarry.
Daccord emerged as the Kraken’s 1A last year but has to prove that his last season wasn’t just a fluke. Goaltending is a volatile position, and Seattle’s already had their share of instability in net over the last couple of seasons. So any long-term commitment to Daccord, considering his lack of experience, is going to carry some risk. But if he can build on last year’s success, this deal should be pretty cost-effective over the next few years — especially in today’s goalie market. — Shayna Goldman, NHL staff writer
(Photo: Steven Bisig / USA TODAY Sports)
