Grubauer SEA

SEATTLE -- Philipp Grubauer cleared waivers and was assigned to Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League by the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Grubauer is 5-15-1 with a 3.83 goals-against average and .866 save percentage in 21 games. His GAA and save percentage are last among the 54 goalies to play at least 15 games this season.

He hasn't won a game since Dec. 30, is 0-5-1 in his past six starts and has allowed at least three goals in all six. That includes five goals on 22 shots in Seattle's 6-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

"Seeing a teammate and a friend and seeing a guy who was an original part of the Kraken, and seeing a guy you've had success with and seen him play good hockey, it's a difficult thing for obviously 'Grubi', but the rest of the guys as well," Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. "Because this is ultimately a team game, and we all bear responsibility of the results of the team."

The 33-year-old is in the fourth season of a six-year, $35.4 million contract ($5.9 million average annual value) he signed July 28, 2021.

In four seasons with the Kraken, Grubauer is 54-76-12 with a 3.10 GAA, .890 save percentage and five shutouts in 151 regular-season games (145 starts).

"With the upcoming schedule, our games spaced out here every other day, and the 4 Nations [Face-off] coming up with a break, there wasn't going to be a lot of practice time and a lot of playing time for Grubi, so going to Coachella Valley will give him some practice time, give him some game time to try to get his game back to where we all know and believe it can be," Bylsma said.

Grubauer helped the Kraken reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2022-23, and had a .926 save percentage in a seven-game first-round series win against the Colorado Avalanche. Seattle lost to the Dallas Stars in seven games in the second round.

But Grubauer gradually has lost playing time the past two seasons as the Kraken have leaned more heavily on Joey Daccord, who signed a five-year, $25 million contract ($5 million AAV) on Oct. 9. Daccord is 17-12-2 with a 2.45 GAA, .917 save percentage and one shutout in 33 games (31 starts) this season.

Daccord had started seven straight games before Grubauer played Tuesday.

Seattle (22-27-3) is nine points behind the Vancouver Canucks for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

"If you look past the hockey side of things, it's a friend that's not here with us now," defenseman Adam Larsson said. "I mean, it's tough for him, it's tough for us, it's tough for everyone. You get really close. You almost see your teammates more than your family during the season, so you get really close with guys.

"We're all responsible for how this season has gone so far."

The Kraken recalled goalie Ales Stezka from the AHL on Thursday, prior to their game against the San Jose Sharks (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN).

Stezka is 8-12-4 with a 3.00 GAA and .902 save percentage in 24 AHL games; the 28-year-old was selected by the Minnesota Wild in the fourth round (No. 111) of the 2015 NHL Draft and is in his second season in the Seattle organization after playing the previous six seasons in his native Czech Republic.

NHL.com independent correspondent Darren Brown contributed to this report