Kraken goalie Joey Daccord has always been about keeping things loose, whether tending goal in actual games or doing so in practice.
And keeping things loose extends to his teammates as well, with Daccord trying to “be myself” with them as much as possible so as not to throw off their routines. That includes situations where Daccord, last week named winner of the Pete Muldoon Award as Kraken team MVP, is asked to wear a microphone for television.
Rather than hamming things up for the cameras, he’ll do the best he can to avoid intentional comedy and show the side of himself that is actually real.
“That’s the whole point of those things anyway,” Daccord said. “They want to show you the way you really are. Not some guy playing things up because he knows he's got a mic on.”
Daccord’s latest “mic’d up” segment was captured by the weekly Kraken Home Ice show on King-5 TV for one of their final segments of the season. It came as Daccord was putting a capper on a season in which he established himself as the team’s No. 1 goalie by appearing in a career high 57 of 82 games with a record of 27-21-5 and a save percentage of .906.
MoneyPuck also had Daccord ranked eighth in the entire NHL in the advanced “goals saved above expected” stat at 19.1.
But while he strives for authenticity with a mic on, Daccord still has his humorous moments.
“What is that tape job?” he asks Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen while standing at the team’s bench, staring at the winger’s stick.
Tolvanen merely shrugs him off.
Not long after, Daccord nearly topples over backwards after stopping a puck.
“New skates,” he quips to anyone in earshot.
Moments after that, during the same warmup, Chandler Stephenson puts a puck up high on Daccord – a no-no that can get a goalie injured.
“Just got away from me,” Stephenson says, skating by Daccord’s crease.
“Careful now,” Daccord chides him. “You rat!”
Later, Daccord is shown skating over to goaltending coach Steve Briere to discuss some of their practice strategy.
“So, two (close range) shots and a point shot?” Daccord asks him, indicating what type of pucks will be sent his way.
Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour eventually delivers the point shot, stopped by Daccord.
“That was a good save,” Daccord tells Montour as he skates by. “A really good save.”
Montour later fires another puck his way that Daccord snares with his glove.
“Ow!” Daccord exclaims.
Montour skates by right after, chirping: “New glove, eh?”
To which Daccord replies: “It’s a real good glove. A quick glove, you might say.”
Montour quips back: “I’ll stay away from there.”
After a brief huddle by the team to listen to coach Dan Bylsma explain an upcoming drill, Daccord skates over to defenseman Ryker Evans and asks: “Chopper, I wasn’t paying attention, what is it?”
Bylsma, who happens to be skating by the pair, calls out: “It is a competition.”
Daccord asks Evans: “Competition for what? How slow the…”
Evans cuts him off, telling Daccord in a deadpan: “You don’t have to play the puck, you just have to stop the black thing.”
Daccord is known for his puck-handling skills and for at times trying to make a play with it even under very extreme duress. Not to be outdone, Daccord pipes back at Evans about the ensuing competition: “OK, but it’s for which forwards can skate the slowest, or what?”
It isn’t all fun and games. Daccord will call out encouragement to teammates throughout the practice.
Good job, Rig,” he says to defenseman Jamie Oleksiak after he breaks up a cross-ice pass attempt.
“Good save, Grubi!” he yells out to netminder Philipp Grubauer after a stop at the opposite end of the ice.
“Great job, Fleur!” he says to defenseman Cale Fleury after he boxes out John Hayden at the net front to prevent him from getting to a rebound.
At one point, as Daccord is done his turn in net, Montour flips a puck back his way – which the goalie snares in his mitt.
“Slow glove, eh?” Daccord tells him in a semi-taunt. “That’s total glove.”
Towards the workout’s end, Daccord lets out an exaggerated sigh, suggesting he’s ready to head to the locker room.
“We good, Stevie?” he asks goalie coach Briere. “I just want to get off and put (on) some ice.”
“Yeah, get out of here,” Briere tells him.
And Daccord does head to the lockers, another morning routine for him at an end.
“The thing is, it isn’t just about me when I’m out there,” Daccord said afterwards. “Everybody else needs to get loose, go through their routine. But you need a goalie to do that. And a goalie needs people to shoot pucks. So, it’s this thing we all need each other for, and we all do together.”
