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Philipp Grubauer Out Week-To-Week

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Seattle Kraken netminder Philipp Grubauer has not played in the team’s last two games, and today head coach Dave Hakstol told the media, including team reporter Alison Lukan, that Grubauer’s status is considered week-to-week. The result of Hakstol’s announcement is that Grubauer’s availability for the Winter Classic in Seattle is now in question.

A former Vezina Trophy finalist, Grubauer has split starts this season with Joey Daccord. Grubauer’s form since signing a $5.9MM AAV contract with the Kraken has been poor, and this season has been no different. He has a .884 save percentage, a decline from the .895 mark he posted the year before. With Grubauer out, the Kraken will turn to a tandem of Daccord and Chris Driedger.

Kraken Place Philipp Grubauer On Injured Reserve

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The Kraken placed goaltender Philipp Grubauer on injured reserve Sunday, per a team announcement. Grubauer left last night’s overtime loss against the Lightning with a lower-body injury and did not return. In a corresponding transaction, netminder Chris Driedger was recalled from AHL Coachella Valley and defenseman Jaycob Megna was reinstated to the active roster from his conditioning stint.

Grubauer exited the contest late in the second period, suffering a likely groin injury as he slid across his crease to stop a shot from Lightning center Anthony Cirelli. He skated off the ice under his own power but needed assistance getting up. Backup netminder Joey Daccord entered the contest in relief.

This is not Grubauer’s first run-in with lower-body issues. He missed a combined 24 regular-season and playoff games in the 2019-20 campaign with lower-body injuries as a member of the Avalanche.

Outside of a strong postseason showing last year, Grubauer’s stint in Seattle has been below expectations. After providing solid backup play to Capitals starter Braden Holtby in the mid-2010s and then taking over as the starter for Colorado, Grubauer hit unrestricted free agency in 2021 and cashed in with the Kraken, signing a six-year, $35.4MM deal with trade protection to serve as the team’s starting netminder for the first era of their franchise.

His platform stats entering Seattle were strong. Coming off a 2020-21 campaign that saw him finish third in Vezina Trophy voting and boasting a .920 SV% in 214 career appearances, there was little reason to expect the contract to quickly turn into one of the worst values in the league. Unfortunately, since joining Seattle, Grubauer has been well below average, posting a 40-54-10 record, .890 SV% and 3.07 GAA behind a decent defense. The 32-year-old did post a .903 SV% in 14 games for the Kraken during last season’s run to Game 7 of the Second Round against the Stars, but even that fell well below the playoff stats he had set with the Avalanche over the preceding few years.

Kraken fans hoped that his postseason momentum could carry over into this season, especially with GM Ron Francis opting to stay the course in the crease and bring back Daccord as an internal option to serve as Grubauer’s full-time backup. Unfortunately, Grubauer has responded with his worst numbers yet, conceding 8.4 goals above average in just 17 starts, posting a .884 SV% and a 5-9-1 record in the process. Daccord hasn’t been much better, posting a 3-4-6 record and .894 SV%.

It will be Daccord’s crease for the time being with Grubauer sidelined, though. Without any clarity into the severity of Grubauer’s injury, it’s impossible to predict how long he could be out of the lineup – low-grade groin strains can be treated on a day-to-day basis, while a more severe groin injury would keep him out for months. He’ll miss at least seven days in order to be eligible for IR.

Driedger, who’s also disappointed since signing a three-year, $10.5MM pact with the Kraken in 2021, returns to the NHL roster and will look to make his season debut in the process. The 29-year-old missed most of last season after undergoing ACL surgery and was assigned to the minors upon his return to health, meaning he hasn’t appeared in an NHL contest since May 1, 2022. He started 24 games for the Kraken in their inaugural season, posting a 9-14-1 record, .899 SV% and 2.96 GAA.

Daccord beat out a healthy Driedger for the backup spot in training camp this year, leading Seattle to waive Driedger and assign him to Coachella Valley a few days before the start of the season. The Kraken recalled Driedger for a brief period in November while Grubauer was dealing with an undisclosed injury, but he did not play and was promptly returned to the AHL upon Grubauer’s return.

If Daccord continues to stumble after a hot start to the season, the Kraken hope Driedger’s strong play in the minors this year can again translate to NHL success. In 15 games for Coachella Valley, Driedger has a 2.20 GAA, .916 SV%, 9-5-1 record, and two shutouts.

Megna returns to Seattle after logging a goal and a +3 rating in two contests with Coachella Valley over the weekend. The Kraken assigned him to the minors on a conditioning loan last week after making him a healthy scratch in a remarkable 26 straight games to kick off the season.

Kraken Recall Marian Studenic

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With Andre Burakovsky out week-to-week once again, the Kraken have found his short-term replacement, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Marian Studenic from AHL Coachella Valley.

The 25-year-old signed with Seattle as an unrestricted free agent this past summer after being non-tendered by Dallas.  After clearing waivers in training camp, Studenic got off to a strong start with the Firebirds, resulting in a short-term recall late last month before being sent back down earlier this week.  He has been held off the scoresheet in two appearances with the Kraken but has been productive in the minors, collecting seven goals and five assists in 16 games.

Studenic has 46 career NHL appearances under his belt spanning parts of four seasons between New Jersey, Dallas, and Seattle.  He still might have to wait a bit to add to that total as he’s likely to serve as their 13th forward even with Burakovsky’s absence.  He is still roughly three weeks and eight games away from needing to go through waivers for a second time this season.

André Burakovsky Out Week-To-Week

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Seattle Kraken forward André Burakovsky will be out on a week-to-week basis, head coach Dave Hakstol said today. (via the Seattle Times’ Kate Shefte) Hakstol added that Burakovsky’s current injury is entirely unrelated to the one that kept him out of the Kraken lineup from late October to early December.

Burakovsky appears to have suffered the injury in last night’s game, or at least aggravated it, as he only played a little over nine minutes of ice time, including just two shifts in the game’s third period.

Missing even more time would be unwelcome news for both Burakovsky and the Kraken, as their $5.5MM scoring forward has already missed multiple weeks due to an upper-body injury.

When healthy, Burakovsky is among the Kraken’s most deadly offensive threats.

But he has struggled with injuries throughout his NHL career and especially since signing in Seattle. He produced at a 65-point 82-game pace last season, his debut year with the Kraken, but only ended up playing in 49 games. He also missed the entirety of the Kraken’s playoff run, a trip to the postseason that yielded an upset victory over the Colorado Avalanche, Burakovsky’s former team.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion had returned to the lineup to play second-line minutes alongside Jared McCann and Alexander Wennberg, but now with this new injury that line will have to find a new player to fill Burakovsky’s role.

It’s especially poor news given the state of Seattle’s offense. They currently rank fourth-to-last in the NHL in goals scored per game with 2.59. Key producers from last season such as Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers and eight-time 20-goal scorer Jordan Eberle have seen their offensive numbers take a steep decline.

The Kraken are already desperate to dig out of the early hole they’ve dug into this season, and this new stroke of extremely poor injury luck will undoubtedly damage those efforts.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Jaycob Megna Assigned To The AHL

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The Seattle Kraken have announced that they are sending defenseman Jaycob Megna to the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL for a conditioning assignment. The 30-year-old has yet to play this season and should have an opportunity to crack the lineup with the Firebirds to try and get back into game shape.

Megna is one of the few NHLers to come from the state of Florida and has been a journeyman throughout most of his career. A seventh-round pick in 2012, Megna has dressed in 368 career AHL games over parts of nine seasons. He signed his first one-way NHL contract with the San Jose Sharks in May of 2022 and is in the final season of that deal making the league minimum of $775K this year.

Seattle traded a fourth-round pick for Megna back in February of this year and he dressed in six games down the stretch, tallying zero points. He didn’t suit up in the playoffs and hasn’t played since the end of last season.

Megna’s likelihood of getting into the Kraken lineup took a hit earlier this week when the team called up prospect Ryker Evans from the Firebirds. Evans has a very different skill set than that of Megna and with the Kraken struggling to generate offense from their defense core it’s no surprise that they opted to give Evans a shot over Megna. Megna has just 89 career AHL points thus far in his career, while Evans has played just 89 AHL games in his short career and has eight goals and 44 assists during that time.

Megna will be back with Seattle in the not-too-distant future, and it will be interesting to see if he can get regular usage at the NHL level. While he is surely happy to be collecting an NHL paycheck, he probably hasn’t enjoyed the lack of playing time this season.

Sabres, Kraken Exploring Goalie Market

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With teams now at the quarter mark of the season, they now have a greater sense of what they have and what they need.  Two of those teams – the Sabres and Kraken – appear to have determined that goaltending help is high on the priority list as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that both squads are looking at what’s available between the pipes.

For Seattle, Philipp Grubauer has struggled mightily out of the gate, putting up his worst numbers in now his third season with the team.  Joey Daccord won the backup battle in training camp but hasn’t fared much better, posting a save percentage of just .898.  Meanwhile, they still have Chris Driedger at AHL Coachella Valley but he hasn’t seen regular NHL action for a couple of years now.

Garrioch notes that Montreal is among the teams the Kraken have spoken to.  The Canadiens are one of the few teams still carrying three netminders on its active roster – the recently extended Samuel Montembeault, veteran Jake Allen, and youngster Cayden Primeau who is no longer waiver-exempt.

With a little over $2MM in cap room at the moment per CapFriendly, Seattle does have a bit of flexibility to work with.  If they can clear out Driedger’s contract as part of any swap, they’d free up an additional $2.35MM to work with as that’s the cap charge they incur with Driedger being with the Firebirds.

As for Buffalo, Garrioch reports that they’re believed to have been sniffing around a veteran netminder.  Devon Levi, when healthy, hasn’t played at the same level as he did down the stretch last season, resulting in a recent demotion to AHL Rochester.  Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has taken over the number one role for the time being (current illness notwithstanding) but has just 59 NHL appearances under his belt.  Veteran Eric Comrie is also with the team but has a 4.01 GAA and a .861 SV% in his seven starts so there’s definitely room to upgrade.

Garrioch suggests that Allen is one of the goalies Buffalo is believed to have looked at.  The 33-year-old has another year on this one on his contract with a $3.85MM AAV.  His numbers are a bit better than Comrie’s with a 3.74 GAA and a .898 SV% in his ten starts.  Buffalo has ample cap space to take on Allen’s full deal although they could also offset some of the cost of any possible trade by including Comrie’s $1.8MM expiring deal as part of any swap.

It has been out there for a while that the Oilers are looking for goalie help with the early struggles of Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner.  Now, it appears they’re not the only ones looking for an upgrade at that position.

Kraken Recall Devin Shore

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The Kraken announced they’ve recalled winger Devin Shore from AHL Coachella Valley on Wednesday. To clear space on the 23-man roster, forwards Max McCormick and Marián Studenič were reassigned to Coachella Valley. Freeing up an additional roster spot in the transaction now means the team can activate winger André Burakovsky, who head coach Dave Hakstol said today is close to a return, off injured reserve.

Shore, 29, receives his second recall of the season. A 2012 second-round pick of the Stars and a longtime teammate of Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, with whom he spent multiple seasons within Dallas, Shore signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Kraken last August. He was coming off a middling season with the Oilers in which he registered nine points in 47 games and earned his first AHL demotion since beginning his pro career in 2015.

The 6-foot-1, 209-pound winger has logged nearly 490 games of pro experience, 431 of which have come in the NHL. He made nine appearances for the Kraken earlier this season, recording a goal and an assist in 7:46 of average ice time, before being returned to Coachella Valley in mid-November. The Kraken have been rotating extra forwards often over the course of the season, giving multiple farmhands in southern California a chance to see NHL ice.

He’s off to a strong start in the minors this year, recording three goals and three assists through nine games. While Coachella Valley is losing his services for now, they certainly aren’t complaining about McCormick and Studenič returning to the farm. McCormick, despite the brief call-up, still leads them in points with 17 through 16 games, while Studenič ranks sixth on the team with 11.

André Burakovsky Close To Returning From Upper-Body Injury

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Kraken winger André Burakovsky is close to returning from an upper-body injury, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters Wednesday (via Alison Lukan of Root Sports Northwest). Burakovsky sustained the injury on October 21 during a game against the Rangers, taking a hard hit from maligned defenseman Jacob Trouba. The Kraken announced Burakovsky would miss six to eight weeks shortly thereafter, putting him within the originally projected return window.

Burakovsky, who’s now missed 20 games with the injury, played just six contests this season after a groin tear kept him out for the back half of the 2022-23 regular season and the playoffs, during which the Kraken defeated the Avalanche for their first-ever series win and took the Stars to seven games in the Second Round. The missed time showed in his play to start the season, going without a point and recording a -4 rating through his first four contests. He showed signs of life in his fifth game, though, notching two assists and a +1 rating in nearly 18 minutes of ice time against the Hurricanes two days before sustaining his upper-body injury.

With such a rich recent injury history, Hakstol signaled the Kraken are being cautious with Burakovsky’s return. He’s been skating in a non-contact jersey for nearly two weeks. Since signing a five-year, $27.5MM deal with the Kraken in the summer of 2022 after hoisting the Stanley Cup as a member of the Avalanche, Burakovsky has 13 goals and 41 points in 55 contests. If he can return to the lineup Thursday against the Devils, he’s projected to play a second-line role alongside Jared McCann and Alexander Wennberg.

Seattle Kraken Recall Ryker Evans

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The Seattle Kraken have announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Ryker Evans from their AHL affiliate the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The 21-year-old has never dressed in an NHL game but has earned some time with the big club after building an impressive AHL resume in his very young professional career.

Evans was the second draft pick ever by the Kraken, taken in the second round of the 2021 NHL draft, after going undrafted in his first year of draft eligibility. He rewarded Seattle with an impressive first season in the AHL registering six goals and 38 assists in 71 regular season games before helping to lead the Firebirds to the AHL finals with an impressive 26 points in 26 playoff games.

This season the Calgary, Alberta native has fallen into a bit of a sophomore slump as he has started the season slowly with just two goals and six assists in his first 18 games with the Firebirds. Despite the slow start, the Kraken have opted to give him a look in the NHL as they are mired in a five-game losing streak and need a jolt wherever they can find it.

Seattle has lost six of their last seven games and is sitting fifth in the Pacific Division with an 8-12-6 record. They are currently trailing the St. Louis Blues by five points for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference while the Blues hold two games in hand.

Without a true offensive superstar in their lineup, the Kraken have relied upon depth scoring to win games, which is something they haven’t been able to find this season. Outside of Vince Dunn, no Kraken defenseman has cracked ten points on the season as their offensive depth has disappeared. The Kraken may see Ryker as a potential option on the backend who can provide a small offensive boost at a time when they need it most.  

Kraken Recall Max McCormick, Issue Injury Update On Jaden Schwartz

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The Kraken have called up veteran winger Max McCormick from AHL Coachella Valley, a team statement released Friday afternoon reads. In a corresponding transaction, another minor-league veteran, Andrew Poturalski, was returned to their minor-league affiliate. Additionally, after placing him on injured reserve yesterday, the team announced that winger Jaden Schwartz’s upper-body injury is expected to keep him out for approximately six weeks.

This is McCormick’s first recall of the season. He was summoned to the NHL roster on two brief occasions last season without appearing in a game. The 31-year-old cleared waivers during training camp and can be returned to Coachella Valley if he stays on the Kraken roster for less than 30 days and plays less than ten games. McCormick, a veteran of over 450 AHL games, is off to a spectacular start, serving as Coachella Valley’s captain and leading the team with eight goals and 17 points in 16 games.

The 2023 AHL Second Team All-Star has been a frequent recall option for teams ever since making his NHL debut with the Senators in 2015-16. He’s accumulated 93 games of NHL experience across six campaigns, most recently in a ten-game stint with the Kraken in their inaugural season in 2021-22. McCormick has been used exclusively in depth roles, however, averaging just 8:28 per contest while managing a respectable eight goals and 13 points across his career. He’s rarely been a significant defensive liability and is a solid, replacement-level option to fill bottom-six injuries.

McCormick will slide into the lineup Saturday against his former team, the Senators, if Brandon Tanev cannot return from his second lower-body injury of the season. He is expected to skate in a fourth-line role alongside Pierre-Édouard Bellemare and recent fellow call-up Marián Studenič. He would replace Poturalski in the lineup, who now returns to the minors after recording no points and a -1 rating in 6:52 of average ice time across the Kraken’s last two contests.

Missing Schwartz for such a significant period of time is a blow to the Kraken’s depth in no uncertain terms. The veteran winger had 15 points in 23 games on the season, on pace for his best offensive showing since joining the expansion Kraken during free agency in 2021. It’s not great news for a Seattle team that’s now fallen two games below the .500 mark and remains outside of the Western Conference playoff picture.

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