Depths Digest, Nov 21: Grubauer Out, Next Man Up
All the highlights from Seattle Kraken morning skate & practice, straight from KCI
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There’s plenty to discuss from the Seattle Kraken’s practice today, so let’s hop right into it, why don’t we?
Practice was approximately 40 minutes long, ending just before noon. Media availability didn’t end until 12:20, nearly an hour later.
Philipp Grubauer was not on the ice, and one of the team’s several EBUGs filled in opposite Joey Daccord. I don’t believe it was the same EBUG— who goes by Frankie— that we saw on Nov 12 (when there were three goaltenders on the ice).
Head coach Dave Hakstol was surprisingly open with updates on Grubauer, who is unlikely for tomorrow’s game. While no move has been made yet, there’s a “good possibility” the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Chris Driedger is recalled soon, maybe even as early as tonight or tomorrow morning. Hakstol couldn’t provide a better assessment of Grubauer’s status than “day-to-day,” alluding to the possibility that Grubauer was absent because he was currently being evaluated.
Sounds like Daccord will start tomorrow. The young netminder has never faced the San Jose Sharks.
Daccord had some mask issues during practice, but it seemed like he resolved them.
Practice was graced by the presence of a few special guests: general manager Ron Francis and his assistant GMs Alexandra Mandrycky and Jason Botterill. They were perched on the newly-installed platform outside of Francis’ office, which had gone unused until today.
(Perhaps the team’s third assistant GM— Ricky Olczyk— was busy working the waiver wire in search of another goalie to fill out Coachella Valley’s tandem?)
Three-on-three, defensive zone puck retrievals, breakouts, and wraparounds/saves were among the drills ran by the coaching staff. Practice ended with a nearly four minute talk from Hakstol, to which skaters listened attentively. Not much could be picked up except the mention of “60 minutes”— undoubtedly a reference to the team’s struggle to maintain a high quality of play throughout a full game.
If you watched last night’s game get sent to overtime and thought, gee, feels like we’ve been sent to overtime a lot this season— like Jordan Eberle— you’re not wrong. I asked Hakstol about the eight overtime games they’ve played in (league-leading!) and how he interprets that high number:
Yes, Hakstol likes the Winter Classic jerseys. But more importantly, what does he plan to wear behind the bench? “I don’t know,” he said with a chuckle. “We got a ways to go before I gotta worry about that one.”