When the dust had settled on the Seattle Kraken roster for their inaugural season, many of the observations were the same. The team had a strong defense corps and were expected to have quite the tandem of goaltenders. After all, they had spent nearly $10MM in cap space on Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, each coming off outstanding seasons.
The results haven’t exactly been as planned. Grubauer has been mediocre at best, posting an .896 save percentage in eight appearances, and Driedger has only seen 31 minutes of action before going down to injury. Even that performance came in relief, meaning he hasn’t started a single game yet this season. That could soon change, as Driedger no longer appears on the team’s injured reserve list and replacement Joey Daccord has been sent back to the Charlotte Checkers.
Driedger likely won’t be a savior for the Kraken, but his return is certainly promising. The 27-year-old netminder posted a .927 save percentage in 23 appearances for the Florida Panthers last season, winning 14 games and posting three shutouts. He has generally been excellent in the NHL in fact, and has a .929 over 39 appearances. It’s just 39 appearances though, so there are still doubts on whether Driedger can really hack it as a full-time starter.
Luckily, with Grubauer in town, it may not be necessary. His results haven’t been good enough through the season as a whole, but things have started to turn around for the 29-year-old. He’s allowed just four goals over his last three games (two wins) and now has his partner back to help him stay rested. If Driedger can get up to speed quickly and Grubauer finds some of the game that made him a Vezina finalist last season, those early observations of a strong tandem could come true after all.
Leave a Reply