Kraken goalie Joey Daccord is a bit of a dreamer when it comes to his team’s Super Skills Showcase competition.
Beyond wanting his coached team to defeat the group being handled by netminding counterpart Philipp Grubauer, Daccord wouldn’t mind suiting up and taking a crack at putting the puck behind whoever’s in net.
“I’ve been shooting on goalies and coaching goalies for pretty much my whole life,” said Daccord, whose father, Brian, is also a longtime goalie coach now with the Boston University men’s team. “So, I have a decent shot and can score a little bit. I want to see if they’ll let me do it.”
The Kraken Super Skills Showcase, pres. by Washington’s Lottery, takes place Saturday, from 1:30 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena, with Kraken Hockey Network broadcasters John Forslund and JT Brown hosting from between the benches and Piper Shaw and Alison Lukan from the ice.
Net proceeds will support Youth Programing at the Kraken Community Iceplex. A number of concession locations throughout Climate Pledge will offer discounted items during the event.
There’s probably a better chance of Kraken general manager Ron Francis donning pads and tending goal himself than allowing Daccord to risk injury freelancing as a position player in the 3-on-3 game between teams coached by the goalies. So, Daccord will likely have to content himself with out-coaching Grubauer – barring a late concession allowing him to partake in one or more of the skills events.
Francis indeed ruled out the likelihood of Daccord playing in the game – consisting of two periods of four minutes each -- though he left the door open a tiny crack where skills events are concerned. “I don’t think we would let him unless (Grubauer) wanted to as well and then only in certain drills,” Francis said, adding that Daccord had yet to bring anything up with him.
For now, that leaves the goalies coaching rosters that were drawn by them at random from a hockey helmet last Friday.
“Team Joey” wound up stacked with veterans Brandon Montour, Jordan Eberle, Chandler Stephenson, Jaden Schwartz, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Brandon Tanev, and Jamie Oleksiak, as well as Eeli Tolvanen and Tye Kartye.
“I’m going to be honest, I like the way my team’s looking,” Daccord said of his “luck of the draw” roster. “We got a lot of pieces. A lot of character. A lot of leadership.”
“Team Grubi” seemed decidedly younger and a bit undermanned in the goal-scoring department until he pulled out Jared McCann and Matty Beniers to go with Shane Wright, Andre Burakovsky, Ryker Evans, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson, Will Borgen and Josh Mahura.
“I think we peeked through a couple of holes in the helmet and got to see a couple of names,” Grubauer said.
But Grubauer added: “I think we picked a bunch of really skilled forwards and really stay-at-home defensemen who can really do their part in all of the competitions.”
Beyond the 3-on-3 game, with the winner getting 10 points and both teams five points if things end in a tie – as it did in the most recent skills event two seasons ago – there’s also a 10-point “Breakaway Challenge” event with two attempts per player. All other skills events are worth five points apiece, including “Accuracy Shooting” – with players attempting to hit five targets within a 45-second maximum.
There’s also a “Relay Race” where players take a loop of the ice and work their way through skills before tagging the next player. And a “Hardest Shot” competition where players shoot at a net as hard as they can clocked by a radar gun.
“To me, it’s going to be a little bit like a Ryder Cup,” Daccord said of golf’s all-star showdown featuring match play between European and U.S. teams every two years. “It’s going to be getting the guys in the right mindset, the right matchups. Utilizing each guy’s skillset the best way possible and then going out there and having fun. Enjoying the day.”
For his part, Grubauer hopes to make Daccord’s day a little less fun.
“I’ve got to sit down with my coaches and discuss the strategy we’ll use against him,” Grubauer said. “That will be fun but there’s still a lot of meetings to be held.”
Daccord plans to tell his players to go have fun.
“It’s a fun day to interact with fans and show them our appreciation and just have fun with the moment,” he said. “Try some fun stuff, see some new tricks and skills we maybe haven’t seen before.
“And we’re definitely going to try to come away with a win.”
Or, maybe get a shot off when his boss isn’t looking.
