Little went right on the ice for the Kraken in their first season. Predictably, the last line of defense and highest-paid member of the team got a cut of the scrutiny.
Coming off a career year with a fresh, six-year, $35.4 million contract in hand, goaltender Philipp Grubauer was the flashy free agent, the buzzy name the Kraken had often left on the board during the expansion draft.
The Kraken had issues from the beginning, however, and — realistic or not — Grubauer was tasked with bailing them out. He went 18-31-5 in 55 games, and his .889 save percentage was the worst of his 10 NHL seasons. The advanced metrics told a strange story.
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“He’s a proud guy that knows his role on this team and how important he is to the group in this dressing room,” coach Dave Hakstol said as the Kraken opened training camp in September.
Grubauer was in regular-season form in Seattle’s 2022 preseason home finale, a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The action surrounded him in fits and starts, but he was ready when called upon. He slid over to deny Tyler Myers in dramatic fashion.
“It didn’t work out for us last year. We didn’t have the year we wanted to have, as a team and an individual,” Grubauer said. “It’s time to step that up and make those changes.”
Grubauer, one of just a handful of German-born-and-raised goaltenders to fashion a long NHL career, didn’t enjoy overnight success at hockey’s top level. He made lengthy stops in the American Hockey League and ECHL between stints with the Washington Capitals, then settled in behind Braeden Holtby as the Capitals’ backup by 2015-16.
He was picked to start the 2018 playoffs after Holtby struggled down the stretch. Holtby relieved him in Game 2, then took the Capitals all the way to the Stanley Cup.
Two weeks after winning it all for the first time since entering the league in 1974, the Capitals dealt Grubauer. He got a chance to be the starter in Colorado and ran with it.
As Colorado stockpiled and developed talent for an eventual championship season Grubauer wouldn’t be a part of, he enjoyed three solid campaigns, each better than the last. He was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to “the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position” as voted on by NHL general managers, with a league-best 1.95 goals-against average and .922 save percentage plus seven shutouts in 2020-21.
The Avalanche never got out of the second round of the playoffs, however, and eventually they had to pay their homegrown stars. Grubauer was allowed to hit free agency and was quickly snapped up by the Kraken.
There would be no Vezina runner-up repeat. Though he carefully directed it toward the defense as a whole, just a month in, Hakstol put out a call for more saves while the Kraken sank into the league basement. They finished with the third-fewest standings points in the NHL.
The flagged advanced stat was goals saved above expected (GSAx). Midway through the season, Grubauer was said to have allowed 23 more goals than expected based on shot quality. In that category, he hovered near the bottom of the league consistently. But as always, there’s context behind those numbers.
There were good stretches. Grubauer was outstanding in back-to-back November wins against Carolina and Washington, allowing three goals on 75 shots. He won three consecutive starts and four of five in late January.
A few more timely saves, a few more miraculous performances, a little more confidence in the room. Would Grubauer have gotten the goal support he needed? Who knows.
“I want to see him go about his business with a positive attitude, go out and work hard, be one of the toughest competitors on the ice,” Hakstol said.
“That shows itself a little bit differently when you’re a goaltender, but it still shows itself.”
The goaltending tandem with expansion draft selection Chris Driedger wasn’t a factor early due to injury and COVID concerns. Driedger had ACL surgery and is expected to be unavailable the first half of this season, so the Kraken went shopping once free agency opened. Nine-year veteran, All-Star and former starter Martin Jones will be the one sharing time, applying pressure.
“Hopefully we can work well together and help the boys win some hockey games,” Jones said.
Thanks to relaxed pandemic restrictions and good, old-fashioned time spent together, Grubauer and his teammates have gotten a better feel for each other.
“Now everybody knows each other. Everybody feels comfortable,” Grubauer said. “That’s a huge part to this.”
With the help of newly hired goalie coach Steve Briere, Grubauer cited small, simple changes that make “a huge impact” on the game.
“It’s important to look at what the mistakes were last year, from a personal and a team perspective, because you can learn from them and you can adjust them,” Grubauer said.
“We’re not the biggest and most physical team, but you can find ways around that. We’re not maybe the most skilled team, but if you do the right things over and over again, it’s going to make it hard to beat us.”