In the fifth and final segment of our week-long Seattle Kraken examination, we debate whether there’s any defense for the Kraken defense. Around the Davy Jones’ Locker Room roundtable are site contributors Zaiem Beg, Sky On Air, Emily Rupp, Allyson Ballard, and Glenn Dreyfuss.
Glenn: Joey Daccord is the rock star of this team. When you have a defense that’s bottom third of the league and a goalie who’s top 10 in save percentage and goals against average, that’s saying something. The Kraken now have a mandatory “shorthanded breakaway against” at least once a game. It happened in the Leafs game. It happened in the Detroit game. And he’s been stopping them time and again.
He’s mentally tough. And when the Kraken get good, he’s the kind of player who can actually win or steal a playoff series. I’m sold on him.
Sky: Daccord has played exemplary. He’s had to put up with an awful lot this season. I’m happy for him, especially given the very winding route that he took to the NHL.
Brandon Montour brings a dimension that I think this defense sorely needed – the ability to not just leave the zone, but also get back. There’s been times watching the Kraken defense, it’s happening at half speed or they’re half committing. That’s been a real problem throughout the lineup. Montour always commits to everything that he does. And usually, it works out for him.
Glenn: Brandon Montour, so many amazing plays this season. Against the Flyers, the puck got behind Philipp Grubauer. He took a Superman leap into the crease. He ended up getting called for covering the puck. But he took a Superman leap like he was smothering a grenade. In the game against Detroit, Dylan Larkin and Lucas Redmond on a two-on-one in the last minute of a tied game. Montour breaks it up without even taking a penalty. They never even get a shot off.
Plus, his own shot is a howitzer. And he’s a good dressing room presence with a championship pedigree. So whatever Brandon Montour has got, give me an injection of that.
Sky: There are plenty of things that this defense does that I have harped on over and over again. I could pick any number of defensemen and say, maybe they need to be a little faster. Maybe they need to be a better passer. Maybe they need to get out of the zone a little quicker.
But eventually it comes down to your goaltender. 90% of the problems defensively are systems-based, but what’s bothered me the most is overwhelming mediocrity from Philip Grubauer. He gave up inexcusable goals from inexcusably low-danger parts of the ice. Grubauer was consistently the second best goaltender on the ice. You can’t have that and expect to get better.
Em: Grubauer was an example of like, all right, we’re going to give you one more shot. We’re going to see how you do. We’re going to put you in limited settings. You’re not going to be the everyday starter anymore. It’s hard to say how much that even escalated things, because goaltenders talk about how they need reps. How much did that strategy actually backfire? But there was clearly a better goaltender in the depth chart and that was Joey. Now we have to put Grubauer down in Coachella Valley.
Sky: That really sucks, because he’s a nice guy. He’s shown up in commercials. He has been part of promotions and all that. But eventually it has to translate to results on the ice.
Em: Adam Larsen, at least playing with Vince Dunn, that’s a pretty solid, consistent pair. I mean, that’s been like four seasons now the best defensive pair that we have. The two of them have talked about it, the way they play off of each other. I would be hesitant to split that up.
Glenn: The Kraken as a team defensively have been statistically far worse than last year. Even in their doldrums last season, they were 8th best in terms of goals against per game. In an attempt to get more offense, they’re sacrificing defense.
Allyson: That’s something I’ve wondered about. You’re seeing a lot of goals off of turnovers. They have almost doubled the giveaways at 5-on-5. They had about 5.6 per game last season, and they’re at 12.6 now. That’s a red flag in terms of puck handling, execution and awareness, where forwards and defenders are supposed to be and how they’re connecting with each other.
Zaiem: They are bottom five in expected goals against at five-on-five. They’re also bottom five on expected goals for. It just seems like the defense has been sacrificed for slightly worse offense.
Allyson: The shot quality allowed by this team is much worse than the past two or three seasons. That’s contributing to early deficits that the team is having a hard time coming back from.
Those plays look like a lack of understanding the systems Bylsma is implementing. There’s not enough players crowding opposing attackers. It’s confusing because one thing that this team has had going for them is that their defensive core has always been so strong and so able two-way.
Zaiem: Chandler Stephenson, kind of a disaster contract. His expected goal share five-on-five for a good portion of the season was dead last from 600 skaters with a minimum of 200 minutes. Recently, he’s been on a little heater. So last I checked, he was like 10th worst. He’s second on the team in assists, and people are like, “How can he be a disaster? Look how many points he has.”
What he’s been defensively completely erases his impact on offense. Any time the Kraken are hemmed in their own zone, take a look and see if old Chandler Stephenson is out there. Sometimes when there’s a goal against it’s because he just left some guy open when he skated off to the corner, or just stood still while the puck is in front of him. But it’s masked by these assists that are kind of empty calories in a way. He’s not even generating that much offense.
The Winnipeg game, the heartbreaker where the puck went off the stanchion at the very end of regulation. Kraken players are scrambling and Stephenson just stands there and doesn’t react, doesn’t get involved, doesn’t participate. Against the Rangers, Stephenson’s defending a guy in front and skates away. Then the pass is open for the backdoor goal. These are two of the more egregious examples.
Ending our week on forward-looking notes of positivity…
Sky: I really believe this is a very strong prospect pool. I believe in Berkeley Catten, not just because I’ve seen him in person. He’s an absolute firecracker. The future for this team is bright. It’s just, we have to go through a mountain of manure to get there. So long as we can get out of that and then hose ourselves down, I think there’s a bright future for this team, but it has to come sooner than later.
Zaiem: The prospect pools is exciting and it truly is an A+ organization. They are an attractive free agent destination, no state income tax, good ownership, great facilities, and the cap is going up. So there’s a lot to like about the Kraken.