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Seattle Kraken Recall Joey Daccord On Emergency Basis

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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.

Seattle Kraken To Assign Shane Wright To AHL

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John Shannon of The Bob McCown Podcast is reporting that it looks as though the Seattle Kraken will assign 2022 first round pick Shane Wright to their AHL affiliate. Wright had his OHL season ended last night when his Windsor Spitfires were knocked out of the playoffs by the Kitchener Rangers.

Seattle could call Wright up to be an extra skater for the big club in their playoff push, but it appears as though they feel that some time with the Coachella Valley Firebirds would be better for his development.

Wright has had quite the rollercoaster ride during the 2022-23 season. He started the year by making the Kraken out of training camp after a solid showing. Following that he was used in a limited capacity before eventually being assigned to the AHL. In his first run with the Firebirds, Wright tore it up with four goals in five games before being called back up to Seattle. He then won gold with Team Canada at the 2023 World Junior Championships before being re-assigned to the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL. The Windsor Spitfires then traded seven draft picks and two players for Wright and finished as the number one seed in the regular season. Finally, last night the Spitfires were swept in the first round by the number eight seed Rangers.

For all the highs and lows this season, Wright has produced offense more often than not. His only offensive struggles occurred at the NHL level as he has just a single goal and assist with the Kraken in eight games. Given his recent history, it makes sense that the Kraken would like to see Wright gain some traction in the AHL before making a return to the NHL.

Setback For Andre Burakovsky, Seattle Hopes He'll Be Available For Playoffs

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The hope for the Kraken was that winger Andre Burakovsky would have been back a couple of weeks ago.  However, GM Ron Francis acknowledged to Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times that the veteran suffered a setback in his recovery that has delayed his return to the lineup.  The 28-year-old has missed nearly two months with a lower-body injury and had a strong first half of the season before that, notching 13 goals and 26 assists in 49 games.  Burakovsky has started skating with development coaches but isn’t ready to get back into team drills yet.  Francis indicated that even if he isn’t able to get back to full practices by the time the playoffs start, they’ll have no hesitance in putting him back in when Burakovsky is eventually cleared to return.

Kraken Assign Joey Daccord To AHL

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While he fared well in a pair of games on a recall earlier this week, the Kraken announced (Twitter link) that they have returned goaltender Joey Daccord to Coachella Valley of the AHL.  The assignment was needed with Philipp Grubauer returning from an illness to make the start against Nashville today.

The 26-year-old picked up a victory on Tuesday in Dallas while allowing only one goal in a shootout loss to Nashville on Thursday, allowing Seattle to maintain a one-point advantage on Winnipeg for the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.  However, to keep Daccord up, they would have had to use one of their two remaining regular recalls and they’ve decided that’s not the best strategy at this time, especially with AHL Coachella Valley being in a close battle for the top spot in the AHL.

Daccord has spent the bulk of the year with the Firebirds and has fared quite well, posting a 2.43 GAA along with a .915 SV% in 34 games so far this season.  He’ll once again partner with backup Chris Driedger who is working his way back after tearing his ACL at the World Championship last season.

Kraken Forward John Hayden Out 12 Weeks

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The Seattle Kraken have announced forward John Hayden will be sidelined for 12 weeks. Hayden was injured in the Kraken’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, following a fight with Klim Kostin. Hayden underwent surgery on Monday for a lower-body injury and will miss the remainder of the season, but should be back training around the time the Stanley Cup in handed out in June.

The 28-year-old center has split this season with the Kraken and their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. He has played just seven NHL games this season, scoring two goals for the Kraken. It is his first season in Seattle after stints with the Chicago Blackhawks, New Jersey Devils, Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres in his seven year pro career.

Hayden was producing offence in his AHL tenure. He scored 17 goals and 33 points in 47 games with the Firebirds, helping them achieve the best record in the AHL by points percentage. He was just called up again on March 15 and was playing his second game with the Kraken since being recalled when he was injured.

The Kraken are sitting in the first wildcard spot in the Western Conference. They have a bit of breathing room as they are six points up on the Calgary Flames who are the top team sitting outside the current playoff picture. In just their second year of existence, the Kraken have a great chance to make the postseason, but will have to reach down to Coachella Valley for another depth piece with Hayden out so long.

Seattle Kraken Sign Ville Ottavainen

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7:17 PM: The Kraken have now officially announced Ottavainen’s signing.

5:22 PM: According to CapFriendly, the Seattle Kraken have signed 2021 99th-overall pick Ville Ottavainen to a three-year entry-level deal set to begin next season. The contract reportedly carries a $876k cap hit with up to $57.5k in yearly performance bonuses. The contract also allocates Ottavainen minor-league salaries of $80k in the first year of the deal and $75k in the following two seasons.

Ottavainen had spent much of his younger days developing as a member of Karpat’s youth system, before choosing to spend his draft season in the OHL with the Kitchener Rangers. Scoring just 15 points in 53 games, the OHL wasn’t the best fit for Ottavainen’s development and he ultimately went undrafted in his first year of eligibility at the 2020 draft.

As an August birthdate, though, there was always the possibility that Ottavainen was simply somewhat of a late bloomer, and upon his return to Finland with JYP he began to take some steps forward.

He was chosen in his second go-around at the draft, landing inside the 2021 class’ top-100 selections, in large part thanks to his big six-foot-five frame and the fact that he got into games with JYP at the Liiga level, a major step up from Kitchener.

Ottavainen established himself as a regular for JYP last season, and scored 14 points in 44 games, averaging just under 16 minutes of ice time per game. This season, he played in he scored 16 points in 51 games and averaged a similar amount of minutes per game.

Now that Ottavainen has more thoroughly filled out his big frame, he’s become a viable two-way defenseman in Liiga with some physicality to boot. While Ottavainen’s presence hasn’t stopped JYP from struggling considerably as a whole over the past few years, he has made himself into a legitimate NHL prospect for the Kraken.

Armed with this entry-level deal, Ottavainen could be in the mix to play for head coach Dan Bylsma’s AHL juggernaut Coachella Valley Firebirds and would give Kraken fans a big, interesting six-foot-five right-shot blueliner to pay attention to.

Seattle Kraken Recall Joey Daccord Under Emergency Conditions

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The Seattle Kraken have called up netminder Joey Daccord from the minors under emergency conditions, the team announced Monday midday.

Daccord presumably comes up to the Kraken roster to relieve Philipp Grubauer, who left the Kraken’s Saturday loss to the Edmonton Oilers with an undisclosed illness. Grubauer allowed three goals on 10 shots before leaving the game early in the second period.

With Seattle in a battle for playoff positioning, don’t expect Daccord to see much action during his third recall of the season. Considering that Grubauer’s absence appears to be a short one, Martin Jones should see all of the starts until Grubauer is ready to return.

That’s unless Jones falters mightily, which isn’t out of the picture. He’s made just three appearances in the month of March, recording a .807 save percentage and two losses. However, Daccord has only gotten into game action once for the Kraken this year, saving 36 out of 40 shots in a 5-4 win against the Calgary Flames back on November 1, 2022. It will likely take some serious missteps for the more experienced Jones to sit for Daccord at such a critical point in the season.

With that being said, Daccord’s numbers in the AHL have been strong for a second consecutive season. In 34 appearances with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the 26-year-old Daccord has a 2.43 goals-against average, a .915 save percentage, three shutouts, and a 24-6-3 record.

Seattle Recalls John Hayden

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  • The Seattle Kraken have recalled John Hayden from the AHL, as they hit the road for a game in San Jose tomorrow night. The Kraken are coming off consecutive losses to the Dallas Stars and have now slipped below the Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division playoff race. Hayden, 28, has just two points in five NHL games this year.

Afternoon Notes: Quick To Make Vegas Debut, Bjorkstrand Practices

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Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Jonathan Quick is set to make his team debut tonight against the Montreal Canadiens, according to NHL.com.

Just as the hockey world began trying to envision Quick in a Columbus Blue Jackets jersey, he was flipped again to Vegas, a team the Los Angeles Kings likely would not have dealt him to. Quick will provide veteran leadership for rookie goalie Logan Thompson, who has shined this season in the absence of Robin Lehner. Thompson carries a .914 save percentage and 2.66 GAA with 20 wins in 36 games for Vegas, earning his first All-Star nod.

Quick has had a bit of a fall from grace in recent years, and has struggled this season, with a 3.50 GAA and .876 save percentage in 31 games, a far cry from his days as the stalwart for a defensively stingy Kings team.

“I can’t get into his head and what it means to him, but he’s here because he still wants to play,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy told NHL.com on Saturday. “He feels he can help the team win. I do know that, 100 percent. He’ll get that opportunity this little bit.”

More notes from around the NHL this afternoon:

  • Seattle Kraken winger Oliver Bjorkstrand participated in the morning skate on Sunday after leaving Friday’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets with a lower-body injury, according to Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times. Bjorkstrand recorded an assist in his return to Columbus on Friday for the first time since being traded to the Kraken. Bjorkstrand has 33 points in 62 games for Seattle, as the Kraken head toward their first playoff appearance in franchise history.

Kraken To Push Contract Talks For Dunn And Borgen To Offseason

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The Kraken started contract extension talks with pending RFA defensemen Will Borgen and Vince Dunn but agreed to push those until after the season, notes Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times.  Borgen is in his first season as a regular and has 16 points in 62 games while logging over 16 minutes a night.  Arbitration eligible, the 26-year-old should be able to more than double his $945K qualifying offer this summer.

As for Dunn, he leads all Kraken rearguards in scoring this season with 11 goals and 36 assists in 62 games; his 47 points put him tenth in the league for points by a blueliner.  He’s also arbitration-eligible this summer with one year of team control remaining.  Dunn is well-positioned to land quite a bit more than the $4MM he has made in each of the last two seasons while a long-term agreement will likely be coming his way as well.

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