Daccord Opened Eyes With Playoff Performance At AHL Coachella Valley
Joey Daccord's outstanding performance in goal drove AHL Coachella Valley to within one game of a Calder Cup championship.
What that could mean for the Firebirds' parent club, the Seattle Kraken, was spelled out by Cole Hayes of The Hockey News. Hayes named Daccord one of the NHL’s Western Conference "Breakout Candidates" in 2023-24.
"After putting up a .918 save percentage last season, Daccord may start the year as the third goalie for the Kraken. But Philip Grubauer has struggled in the regular season since signing in the Emerald City, and Chris Driedger missed the 2022-23 season due to injury.
"It’s likely that Daccord will get starts for the Kraken, but he’ll need to drastically improve on his career .884 save percentage at the NHL level."
I'd suggest that what Daccord is fully capable of at the NHL level is still unknown. He played one game with Ottawa in 2018-19, eight more with the Senators in 2020-21, and five games in each of the Kraken's first two seasons.
Kraken radio studio host Mike Benton recently gave a Daccord scouting report on the Signals From The Deep podcast.
"Joey Daccord is mastering this thing at the AHL level. He was spectacular in net. If he wants to come in and challenge for the backup job behind Philipp Grubauer, that playoff run told me a lot.
"He's got personality. He's athletic. He'll play the puck behind the net. That's like having a third defenseman back in your own zone. He was throwing (Seahawks QB) Geno Smith-like lobs to guys across two bluelines to get scoring chances.
"The few times he was called up (last) season, a couple of games the numbers weren't exactly gaudy. Those were more circumstances, defensive breakdowns. He had a great game against Calgary early in the season."
That would be a 5-4 victory over the Flames in Calgary on November 1, in which Daccord made 36 saves. Another game which stood out for Benton was March 21 in Dallas, another 5-4 Kraken victory.
"Dallas scored two extra-attacker goals, and I'm thinking, 'Oh, no, what's going to happen next?' Adam Larsson wins that game (1:52 into overtime). Dallas was pouring it on in that game. If not for Joey Daccord, they could have lost that game in regulation."
Barring a trade, the training camp battle in net will be between Daccord and Chris Driedger, which we discussed yesterday. Benton believes the Firebirds' standout is up for the challenge.
"When he comes up here, he shows he's ready for the moment. It wouldn't shock me to see opening night, Grubauer (as starter), and Daccord backing him up."