Joey Daccord Proud of “Resilient” Kraken Team, “Super Excited” for Push to Postseason
By Charles Hamaker
Northgate, WA - With the Olympic break largely in the rearview mirror, the Seattle Kraken sit in the third seed of the Pacific Division, occupying a playoff spot. The expectation of a defensively strong hockey team under head coach Lane Lambert during his first year in Seattle has come to fruition, and the Kraken goaltenders have been a big part of the success in the Pacific Northwest. While his workload hasn’t been as large, considering the resurgence of teammate Philipp Grubauer, Joey Daccord has been steady for Seattle through 33 starts on the season. Daccord has posted better or similar numbers to those of netminders like Jeremy Swayman, Connor Hellebuyck, and Jake Oettinger, all of whom were named to a Team USA Olympic roster that the Arizona State alum was seen as a potential candidate for. With the break coming to a close and the final chunk of the season presenting the opportunity for the Kraken to make the postseason for the second time in their five-year existence, Daccord shared his thoughts on how the year has played out so far, how Seattle got to this point, and more.
Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord during games at Climate Pledge Arena throughout the 2025-26 season to this point. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
The Olympic break presented some fun downtime for Daccord, who has shouldered a heavy load of the starts in goal for the Kraken over the last two years. Still, he was intentional about ensuring he didn’t fully take himself out of a ready state for when the team would return from the hiatus. Before getting back into preparation for the final stretch of this season, Joey attended the Waste Management Phoenix Open down in Arizona before heading to the Charlotte area, where his girlfriend, Heather, is from, before going back to Naples, Florida, where the couple both have family.
The time off was more than welcome, especially considering that Daccord wanted it known that he’s “got a little tan going,” but it wasn’t a complete unplug from the task at hand with this Seattle squad. While there wasn’t a rink he spent time in while he was away from the Northwest, Joey made sure to continue training to keep himself ready to pick right back up where the season left off.
“For me, I try not to get out of it too much, just because it’s not that long of a break. It is time off, but it’s kind of always hanging over your head that you have a game coming up. I trained, I didn’t skate, but I trained off the ice almost the whole break.”
The first part of this season for the Kraken, who have 56 games of 82 under their belt to this point, has seen Daccord as the starter in net for 33 of them. Lane Lambert’s defensive system and a resilient group that hardly ever seems truly out of a game have Seattle in a better place at this point in the year than the last two seasons. While it hasn’t always been pretty for the Kraken, and they’ve been a streaky team more often than not this campaign, Joey is proud of the group for the way that they’ve found different ways to earn victories and for their ability to move forward constantly.
“I think that’s the keyword for this year, right? It’s been resilient. I mean, in games, coming back, finding ways to claw back into games throughout the season, through all the ups and downs, just finding ways to put together wins. I think I’ve just been really proud of our group with how we’ve battled, competed, like you said, been resilient, and we’re just gonna keep moving forward and hopefully just pick up right where you left off.”
Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord during games at Climate Pledge Arena throughout the 2025-26 season to this point. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Joey’s journey in hockey has featured a ton of preparation, whether that's off-ice training, as he mentioned previously, working with his dad Brian, who formerly played the position professionally and now works in the NHL, or his pregame work with a Meta Quest headset. This year has been no different, of course, as he’s looked to see what he can do to improve upon his game, and while his numbers aren’t of the stellar stats he put out in his breakthrough 2023-24 campaign, Daccord seems more than ready to help Seattle push forward to the postseason. His reflection on his first half cites his desire to continue working on what has made him the player he is today.
“I think, as you’re playing through each NHL season, you’re constantly just analyzing, what can I do better? What parts of my game need work? What parts of my game am I doing well in and need to keep building on? I’m a big proponent of working on your strengths. That’s a big reason why everyone’s where they are, is because of what they’re doing, what they’re really good at. Of course, you’re always going to spend a little bit of time working on things that you need to improve. But you know, if I spend a lot of time really honing what I’m best at, that’s what makes me successful. So I spend a lot of time on that as well.”
It’s no secret that Joey embraces his social media presence as a professional athlete in the modern day, whether that's the Formula 1 with Joey Daccord series on Kraken socials or his own YouTube channel, which he started uploading to consistently about six months ago. Speaking to Joey previously about his posts and remaining active on social, he’s cited his favorite Formula 1 drivers and Manchester United players as inspiration for his greater activity than some of his teammates and other NHLers, including wanting to interact with fans.
“I mean, the appetite for it’s there, which has been really cool. So many people have been super supportive, fans really love it, and they enjoy it. It’s funny because I’ll post a video, and I’ll explain all this stuff, and then I’ll have 40-50, follow up questions. And it’s like, all right, I gotta go back and add a bunch of stuff to the next one. What’s interesting is, like, I post a video of me just breaking down my goalie equipment, which is me just sitting there talking, pointing at what I wear on the ice, and that’s my most-watched video ever. Then I posted a super sick video of me going down and getting my jersey retired, and I’m on a private jet that ASU sent to come pick me up, and, you know, the whole song and dance. It’s like my second least-watched video, and it’s objectively the coolest one.”
Whether it’s replying to the Seattle fanbase after a big win, the Formula 1 with Joey series put together by the talented folks with Kraken social media, or the different videos on his YouTube channel, Daccord intends to take anyone who wants to watch behind the lens of his life as an NHL goaltender and is eager to share what he can. It’s clear that fans want to see personality from the players they root for, and sometimes that very personality is what draws them to a specific player. Joey continues to think about what fans may want to say, whether that’s more of the personality side of things or more hockey-based content. There’ll be no shortage of posts to get to know Seattle’s #35 better in the coming years.
“I think right now, I’m kind of in a research phase, just trying to figure out what people want to see. Do they want to see personality? Do they want to see hockey? I’m going to do an Ask Me Anything one soon where I just sit down and answer questions from people, and I think that one will do really well. I’m working on trying to put together a day in a life video, like people want to see that one for sure.”
There was plenty of intrigue surrounding Seattle’s trio of NHL-level goaltenders coming into this season. While Matt Murray has unfortunately been unavailable for a chunk of the season due to a few injuries, all three netminders have played a key role for the Kraken at some point throughout the season. Each member of the trio and goaltending coach Colin Zulianello has pointed to the professionalism in the crease for Seattle as a reason for the success seen so far, something Daccord added to when asked about how the trio has played out to this point.
“I mean, I think we’re all professionals, and this year has been the first year in my career where we’ve had three goalies in the NHL, but it’s been a lot of fun. Grubi and Matt are both awesome guys, and I think we’ve had a lot of fun together, just being super supportive. Whoever coach puts out there and decides to play, we’re all supportive of that guy and just want the best for the team. It’s been great this year.”
While there is doubt from the outside that they’ll be able to hold onto their current position and punch their playoff ticket, the Kraken don’t care about the noise and are eager to get back to working towards the postseason. Through the first few practices since returning from the break, Seattle’s roster has looked fresh, and the excitement is audible, with more cheers, jeers, and talking heard than almost every practice earlier this season. While the uncertainty of the trade deadline looms in the background, the Kraken appear set to return to action with renewed energy.
Part of that “rejuvenation” for Seattle may come from those who weren’t around for the Kraken's playoff run in 2022-23, including Daccord. Joey appeared in a few games with the team that year but wasn’t along for the ride later into the campaign and into the actual postseason. With two deep Calder Cup runs in his portfolio from his time with AHL affiliate Coachella Valley, Joey is eager to get to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in his exciting NHL career.
“Everyone’s super excited to be back, just seeing the guys again, big smiles, it’s great. Super, super fun to be back with everyone. In terms of the final push here? Yeah, I’m really excited, mostly because this is my first year with the big club, where we’re pushing at the end. I mean, the last two years before this, we still had a chance, but it was pretty, pretty much a long shot this time of year, right? We had a long way to climb back. Knowing we’re right in the mix here is awesome. I’m super excited about it, but like you said, we can’t get too caught up in all of it. We just got to take it one game at a time.”
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