Seattle’s top goaltender will be sticking around for the foreseeable future.
Word slipped out by way of league insiders Chris Johnston and Elliotte Friedman Wednesday morning that the Kraken reportedly extended Joey Daccord for five years at $5 million annually. Seattle confirmed those reports with an official announcement soon after.
“Joey stepped up last season and proved his ability to handle an increased workload,” general manager Ron Francis said via press release. “We’re confident he can take his game to another level, and we’re excited to have him under contract long term.”
Daccord, 28, is an original expansion draft selection by the Kraken taken from the Ottawa Senators, with whom he played nine games over the three seasons he spent in their system– game action largely came with the team’s AHL and ECHL affiliates. Two straight seasons of promising performances as Seattle’s number one AHL goaltender built Daccord’s trust with the organization, and he became the bonafide starter for the Kraken during the 2023-24 season. Over 50 games, he posted a top-five save percentage (.916%) and GAA (2.46) among goaltenders playing at least 30.
Perhaps the crowning moment of Daccord’s first season as a full-blown NHL goaltender came on New Year’s Day. Stopping all 35 Vegas Golden Knights shots at the 2024 Winter Classic helped Daccord boost Seattle to a 3-0 win in their outdoor debut for the first-ever shutout in Winter Classic history. Daccord’s Winter Classic heroism came during a stretch of eight consecutive wins, a span over which he allowed a stingy 1.5 goals per game.
Head coach Dan Bylsma plans to deploy Seattle’s tandem of Daccord and Philipp Grubauer evenly, at least to begin the season– Grubauer took the home-opening start against the St Louis Blues on Tuesday, resulting in a 3-2 loss. Daccord’s first start is still on the horizon.
Previously serving as the bench boss for the Kraken’s AHL affiliate Coachella Valley Firebirds granted Bylsma a front row seat to the tail end of Daccord’s development arc.
“I’ve seen him develop over the last three years and he just keeps getting better. That’s really his strength as a goalie,” Bylsma said during training camp. “He keeps working to get better over and over and over again, and he’s had some success last season– he knows that, we know that. But he also wants more, [is] working to get more, and [is] working his game to be even better than it was last year.”
Daccord’s contract kicks in upon the beginning of the 2025-26 season and keeps him with the Kraken until he is 33. He will play out the remainder of the present season on a two-year, $1.2 million deal signed June 2023. With Grubauer already being paid $5.9 million, Seattle is set to fork out $10.9 million next season for their tandem.