Philipp Grubauer, Seattle Kraken.
One of the Seattle Kraken’s biggest signing’s in free agency was Philipp Grubauer. Locking him down for 6-years at $35.4M ($5.9M AAV) seemed like a good deal for a goaltender who was fresh off a Vezina caliber season. So far, it hasn’t worked out that way.
As one of the faces of the newest franchise, Grubauer seemed ready to take on the responsibilities and demands of steering the franchise in the right direction. He wanted to be “the” guy and was ready to make history.
“Once the [free agency] window opened, Seattle called and it was a no-brainer for me to join a club that’s brand new, to be part of something and make history like [the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017] did, to be the first guys who they sign with this team.” – Philipp Grubauer (from NHL.com)
But oh, how the mighty have fallen. The thought that Seattle could potentially have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league has all but vanished. The six-year contract that seemed so exciting this summer leaves some of us counting down the days until its expiration in 2027.
Their backup goaltender, Chris Driedger, started the season on injured reserve. Since his return on October 16, Driedger hasn’t been much better and found himself back on IR Wednesday with a lower-body injury.
But, if things don’t turn around for Grubauer soon, he may find himself competing for the starting job in Seattle. A little friendly competition between the two goaltenders may not be a bad thing. Both players need to earn their starts, especially PG31.
To better understand just how far Philipp Grubauer has fallen, we need to take a look at his final season with the Colorado Avalanche. While he put out decent stats in all three seasons with the Avs, it’s his final season that sealed the deal for Seattle.
At the conclusion of the 2020-21 regular season, Gruby had a 30-9-1 record. He was second in the league in GAA (Goals Against Average), with 1.95. Grubauer’s 14.5 GSAA (Goals Saved Above Average) was sixth overall. His .922% save percentage put him eighth in the league among goaltenders who had played 20 games or more. He was also the league leader in shutouts, alongside Islanders netminder Semyon Varlamov, recording seven over the duration of the season.
For the first time in his career, Grubauer was a Vezina Trophy finalist. That spoke volumes about his performance on the ice. Marc-Andre Fleury took home the hardware (along with the William M. Jennings Trophy), but Grubauer earned the most third-place votes.
In Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he was pretty solid. Colorado swept the St. Louis Blues, and Philipp ended the series with a .936 save percentage and 1.77 GAA. Unfortunately, things started to collapse for the Avs in Round 2 against Vegas. Winning the first two games, Grubauer had an outstanding performance. However, in the final four games against VGK, he let in 16 goals, and his teammates were unable to Colorado’s deficit at the other end of the ice.
Statistically speaking, Philipp Grubauer is having the worst season of his career. There are plenty of contributing factors that are out of his control. However, the fact of the matter is, the player who Seattle signed to be the backbone of their team is failing. And in turn, so is his team.
Before the 2021-22 season, Gruby never saw his save percentage dip below .915. This season, it has dropped dramatically. His current .891 save percentage is the worst among starting netminders around the league. He is currently tied for the third most in goals against (54), which is not a list Grubauer wants to see his name near the top of, especially when the three goaltenders above him are performing better in almost every other metric.
His 3.02 GAA is in the bottom half among goaltenders. To top it all off, Grubauer’s 10.47 GSAA (goals saved above average) have him sitting at the bottom of the league.
The facts are undeniable, and Philipp Grubauer is statistically the worst goaltender in the league. While it may be too early to play the blame game, he is a big reason the Seattle Kraken is a bottom ten team in the NHL right now. And he is certainly not playing like a netminder who is making almost $6M a season.
Hockey players are known to decline with age, and goaltenders are no exception to the rule. However, Grubauer’s startling decline is bizarre. Something needs to change for him and, if not, Seattle.
It is unfair to put all the blame for the Seattle Kraken’s abysmal start solely on Philipp Grubauer. Were we promised a different result? In a way, yes. However, the Kraken is essentially a group of misfits that couldn’t find their place on their previous teams. Grubauer also benefitted from the privilege of spending the last three seasons backstopping a group of players in Colorado who had a few years to perfect their chemistry and owned the talent to go along with it.
In the last few games Grubauer started, fans saw glimpses of the goaltender they expected when he was signed in the offseason. He was confident and poised in the crease, making timely saves that he hadn’t made early on in the season.
This could be a sign that Grubauer is getting comfortable with coach Dave Hakstol‘s style. It seems that the more self-assured he is between the pipes, the more confident the team in front of him is. The longer the Kraken play together, the more in tune they seem to be gelling with one another. This is a good omen for Seattle’s goaltenders, who haven’t gotten much help in front of the net this season.
There are still some areas that Grubauer needs to improve. First, he needs to maintain his confidence for 60 minutes. Consistency is another area of opportunity. He has one or two decent games, but then he loses all momentum in the third. His penchant for allowing untimely goals really needs to stop as well.
The Seattle Kraken also must continue to clean up their game defensively. Even though Grubauer is their last line of defense, he can’t do it all on his own. The team has collectively made decent strides over the last few games to fix this. If Grubauer continues to embrace the new system and cleans up his game, there is a good chance we will see him return to form.
Do you think Philipp Grubauer can turn things around? Or are the Seattle Kraken stuck with mediocre goaltending for the next several years? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.