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Grubauer’s Assignment to AHL Not a “One Moment Decision”

Bob Frid-Imagn Images

Adam Larsson spoke of Philipp Grubauer’s absence glumly. Sharing the same locker room for the better part of four seasons as two of the eight remaining original Kraken on the roster has made them close. 

“You look past the hockey side of things, it’s a friend that’s not here with us now,” the defenseman said. “It’s tough for him, it’s tough for us, it’s tough for everyone involved.”

Though Grubauer’s placement on waivers and reassignment to Coachella Valley on Wednesday morning is meant as a means of reviving the veteran netminder’s game– and followed a loss Tuesday in which he surrendered five goals on 22 shots– the move shocked regardless. Defensive execution was a point of overt critique by players and head coach Dan Bylsma against Anaheim.  

“Good defense could make your goalie look good. The other night we really kind of left him out to dry there on a couple goals, so I don’t think he’s the one to blame on those. There were for sure some holes on the defensive side of things.”

“We’re all responsible for how this season has gone so far,” he added. That is, their 22-27-3 record.

Tuesday’s game was not a one-off, neither for the defense nor goaltending. Grubauer’s .866 SV% and 3.83 GAA are career-worsts for the 33-year-old, currently sitting 58th in wins and going 5-15-1 this season. Seattle has allowed 118 goals at five-on-five, the fourth-worst total in the league, not far off from the 113.09 (sixth) they’ve been expected to. Averaging nearly 13 giveaways a night, the Kraken’s 662 total at five-on-five is already their largest single-season total even with 28 games left to play. 

“This is not a one moment decision,” Bylsma said of Grubauer’s reassignment. “It’s more over the course of the year and also the situation. It’s gone rough over the last three weeks in the game situations that he’s been in […] It’s falling on Grubi’s shoulders in this case, but I think we all bear responsibility, players and myself included.”

Seattle pulled Grubauer in each of his last two starts nearly three weeks before Tuesday’s game, a 6-2 loss to Columbus and a 6-2 loss to Detroit in which he lasted only 6:16. To steal the second Wild Card position from Vancouver, the Kraken need 10 points in the standings. January’s 5-8-1 record doesn’t bode well for chipping away at such a deficit ahead of the Four Nations break, beginning Feb. 9 for Seattle.

At any rate, recalling Aleš Stezka is a step in the right direction. It gives Grubauer time to recover his game and confidence with the Firebirds, as Bylsma explained, and it provides Seattle with a backup option who, at the very least, has yet to prove himself either way at the NHL level. Stezka’s .902 SV% and 3.00 GAA are a small improvement.

The loose plan is, however, for Joey Daccord to backstop the Kraken against San Jose, Calgary (x2), Detroit, and Toronto leading up to the break. Coachella Valley will play seven times between Jan. 31 and Feb. 22, when their parent club returns to the ice. This will be Grubauer’s first AHL stint since the 2014-15 season.

“Going to CV will give him some practice time, give him some game time to try to get his game back to where we all know and believe it can be.”

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