Are the Seattle Kraken for real, or just riding a hot goalie?

After a sluggish start to the 2023-24 regular season, the Seattle Kraken are riding a seven-game winning streak, 8-0-2 in their last 10, and are now on the outskirts of a playoff position.

Led primarily by goaltender Joey Daccord, who before this season has never appeared in more than eight games in an NHL campaign, is 11-5-8 with a .923 SV% in 25 appearances and won six consecutive starts.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Kraken’s hot streak and whether the team is a legitimate playoff contender, or if they’re an average team that’s got a goalie with a hot streak.

Tyler Yaremchuk: If you look at their 17-14-9 record, yes they’ve only won 17 games but the points coming from overtime and shootout loses kept them alive, and then bang: a seven-game winning streak on the back of Daccord.

Since Dec. 1, Daccord has a .948 SV%, and the team has points in 10 straight games that Daccord starts in. Are the Kraken a legit playoff team or are they a mediocre team riding a hot goalie?

Frank Seravalli: I lean towards them being a mediocre group riding a hot goalie. The Kraken have finally gotten good goaltending for the first time in their franchise history, and you see what a difference it makes. Even last year, Martin Jones had 42 starts and 48 appearances, and his save percentage was .886, but they still became a playoff team.

The scoring hasn’t been there in terms of coming at you in waves like last year. I think they’re a scrappy team that works, but they’re missing an upper-echelon talent to put them over the top. They may be a playoff contender, but are they a real threat? The answer is no.

You can watch the rest of the segment and the full episode here…