Seattle Kraken’s Philipp Grubauer placed on injured reserve with lower-body injury

Seattle Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer has been placed on injured reserve after suffering a lower-body injury during Friday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Grubauer left Friday’s game against the Avalanche in the third period after appearing to tweak something in his lower body. He had stopped 17 of 19 shots in the game before leaving, and backup Martin Jones stopped the only shot he faced in relief to secure the 3-2 win for the Kraken. Grubauer was kept out of Sunday’s game against the Blackhawks as well, but only just placed on injured reserve on Tuesday. There is currently no word on how long Grubauer will be on injured reserve.

Depending on the length of the injury, it’s not a great start to what was hoping to be a rebound year for Grubauer. The 30 year old struggled in his first season with the Kraken, with an 18-31-5 record, .889 save percentage, and -31.53 goals saved above expected. That hasn’t changed so far this season, as he’s gone 0-1-1 with an .860 save percentage and -3.54 goals saved above expected.

Jones will likely take the starting role for the Kraken right now, with their usual backup goalie Chris Driedger also out after suffering a torn ACL during the 2022 IIHF World Championship, with a timeline of 7-9 months for recovery. Jones’ season so far hasn’t been too much better than Grubauer’s, with a 2-2-1 record, .860 save percentage, and -4.6 goals saved above expected.

The Kraken also called up goalie Joey Daccord to backup Jones amidst all the injuries. Daccord only got into five games with the Kraken last year, going 0-4-0 with an .850 save percentage and -5.04 goals saved above expected. He’s played three games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the AHL this season, with a 2-1 record and an .880 save percentage.