Kraken Trade Rumors: Philipp Grubauer Linked To Western Conf. Team

With a 1-5-0 mark and a woeful .877 save percentage this season, it's reasonable to suggest that Philipp Grubauer's time with the Seattle Kraken could be coming to an end at some point this season (if they had their druthers).

On Tuesday night, the beleaguered goalie allowed five more goals on 31 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

But just hours before, hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, speaking on NHL Network's First Shift podcast, suggested that Seattle might try to unload the struggling netminder on those very same Avalanche.

Is there a situation where Seattle and Colorado is a match? It looks to me like Seattle has decided their guy (between the pipes) is Joey Daccord. (But) The one thing about Colorado is, the surest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, and it looks to me that the thing Colorado says is, 'we are not going past a certain number (in cap hit) on our goaltending.'

With a $5.9 million cap hit for three more seasons (including this one), Grubauer would certainly not fit into that line of thinking in Colorado. It would take a huge amount of retention for the Kraken, as the Avs are already paying Alexandar Georgiev $3.4 million this season.

"So, what is that sweet spot?," asked Friedman. "Seattle would probably have to eat a third to a half (in retention) of Grubauer for two more years. How does Seattle feel (about that)?."

Of course, the other question that must be asked now that Colorado has gotten a close-up view of Grubauer just last night, is would they really have any interest in taking him on, whatever the retention might be?