The Hockey News Mothership Ranks Seattle #8, But Goalies #28
Back in the newspaper days, we would call this a clip-and-save. Hockey experts weigh in on how the Kraken will do as a team in 2023-24, and their goaltending in particular.
Associated Press
Predictions from here and here.
"Seattle was rather quiet in free agency and there are some areas where the Kraken excelled last season – shooting 11.6% as a team for example – that seem ripe for a regression. The Pacific Division is loaded, but Seattle believes it can be one of the teams fighting for a playoff spot next spring."
Predicted Order of Finish: Edmonton, Vegas, Seattle, Calgary, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Vancouver, San Jose.
Jason Chen, The Hockey News
"Key addition: Brian Dumoulin was an underrated pickup for a team that’s already very deep at every position except in net. We’ve seen the Kraken underachieve (inaugural season) and overachieve (last season), and the truth is probably somewhere in between."
Chen lists two Pacific Division rivals in his NHL pre-season top five: Vegas Golden Knights (1) and Edmonton Oilers (5). But he like Seattle too, ranking them #8.
Of note, that's one spot higher than the Colorado Avalanche, the Kraken's home-opener opponent on Tuesday - and the team they upset in last year's playoffs.
Adam Proteau, The Hockey News
The Kraken goaltending duo of Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord, in Proteau's estimation, is the fifth-worst in the entire NHL.
"The Kraken quickly rose through the ranks of the NHL, but they’ve done so almost in spite of their subpar goaltending. (Grubauer's) got time left to return to his numbers as a Colorado Avalanche, but as it currently stands, Grubauer isn’t putting up even average numbers, let alone elite ones.
"Daccord had a decent season in the AHL in 2022-23, but he has only 19 games of NHL experience under his belt, and the Kraken’s mediocre defense isn’t likely to protect him and Grubauer."
Daccord's AHL season only "decent?" I bet if we checked, Adam probably once called Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy "okay."
