The Seattle Kraken have recalled goaltender Joey Daccord from their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The recall is on an emergency basis, and is in advance of the team’s Monday contest against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena.
The 26-year-old has spent most of this season as Coachella Valley’s number-one netminder, and has had an impressive year. He’s backstopped one of the AHL’s best teams and posted a 26-7-3 record with a .918 save percentage. He last played in the NHL in a March 23rd shootout loss to the Nashville Predators, a game where he saved 23 of 24 shots.
Daccord has played three games total in the NHL this season, and has a 2-0-1 record and a .903 save percentage. Daccord’s .903 mark is quite a bit higher than the save percentages of Seattle’s two main goalies, Martin Jones and Philipp Grubauer, who have posted .887 and .893 marks, respectively.
A 2015 Ottawa Senators seventh-round pick, Daccord played three NCAA seasons at Arizona State University (the program that now shares Mullett Arena with the Coyotes) and he signed his entry-level deal after a strong final season, where he posted a .926 save percentage in 35 games. Daccord split 2019-20 between the AHL and ECHL levels before spending 2020-21 largely as a taxi squad netminder.
The following year Daccord was the Kraken’s selection from Ottawa in the Expansion Draft and spent most of the year with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers as the organization’s number-three goalie, posting a .925 save percentage in the AHL and earning five NHL games.
Daccord is operating on a one-year, league-minimum deal that affords him the chance of being an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in the summer. He’s just one year from unrestricted free agency too, meaning any NHL starts he gets will be of major importance for putting himself on the right foot to enter offseason negotiations.
With the Kraken preparing for the franchise’s first-ever foray into the Stanley Cup playoffs, this recall gives head coach Dave Hakstol the chance to rest one of his two main netminders in order to put Seattle in the best position possible for a playoff series where they’ll likely be the underdog.