Goalies in Triplicate

The Kraken goaltender position for the 2025-26 season is stacked with a trio of veterans who have won Stanley Cups and a gold medal among them, plus two of the three will be aiming to suit up for their countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February. They have appeared in 770 NHL regular season games and 99 Stanley Cup Playoffs games, posting 362 wins in the regular season and another 55 victories in the postseason.

Original Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer is one of the Cup winners, part of the 2018 champion Washington Capitals team. He is also the biggest reason why the Kraken ousted defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado (his former team) with 2-1 win in Game 7 of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs and nearly did the same against Dallas in the second round.

Newly signed free agent Matt Murray is the other Stanley Cup titleholder, winning back-to-back Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017. Along with Grubauer, Murray joins five more Kraken teammates who have won Cups: Brandon Montour (2024), Chandler Stephenson (2018 with Grubauer, 2023), Jaden Schwartz (2019), Vince Dunn (2019) and Josh Mahura (2024).

The gold medalist among the goalie group is Joey Daccord, who won gold with Team USA at last spring’s 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship. Daccord is an original Kraken 2021 Expansion Draft choice, picked from Ottawa and a huge reason why American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley won the AHL Western Conference championship in 2023 and fell just one Game 7 overtime goal short of winning the league’s Calder Cup.

Daccord, who played 57 games last season with 29 wins, a .906 save percentage and 2.76 goals against average, was one of four NHL goalies invited to the Team USA Olympics Orientation Camp in late August. Daccord’s performance beginning the Oct. 9 Kraken home opener and over three months is likely to determine his chances on making the American Olympic roster while Grubauer was already named as one of the first six NHLers who will represent Germany when the puck drops in Milan, Italy, in February.

Murray’s 2016 Cup run came after just 13 NHL starts. He filled in for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury and was clutch over 21 postseason games with a 15-6 record. He actually turned 22 during those playoffs and finished with a .923 save percentage and a goals-against average of just over two goals per game.

Irony struck the next postseason: Murray went 32-10-4 in 49 games with a .923 save percentage, 2.41 goals-against average and four shutouts during the 2016-17 regular season. He was set to start Game 1 of the 2017 playoffs against Columbus, but was injured in warmups. Fleury stepped in and helped the Penguins reach the Eastern Conference Final against the Ottawa Senators. Murray replaced Fleury in Game 3 and helped spark the Penguins to a second straight championship. He shut out the Nashville Predators in Games 5 and 6 did not allow a goal in the final six-plus periods in the six-game 2017 Stanley Cup Final. Kraken GM Jason Botterill was associate general manager with Pittsburgh during those title years.

Not to be lost about the depth of the Seattle goaltender position is goalie prospect Nikke Kokko, the 2022 second-round draft choice who arrived in Coachella Valley last fall. Kokko was named to the AHL All-Rookie team, posted a 20-10-2 regular-season record with a .911 save percentage and 2.26, stats keeping him astride veteran goalies leading the league. He elevated his playoff stats, posting a shutout to close out tough foe Calgary and finishing with a .921 save percentage and 1.95 goals-against average.