Matt Murray Joins Seattle Kraken: What It Means for Goaltending 🥅

Matt Murray Joins Seattle Kraken: What It Means for Goaltending 🥅

Let’s talk about goalending. You are Locked on Kraken, your daily podcast on the Seattle Kraken, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hey Seattle hockey fans, welcome to another episode of Locked on Kraken, part of the Locked On Network, where we bring you your favorite team every single day. My name is Erica L Ayala, your host of Locked on Kraken. Also an accredited media member for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy. I’m excited to talk to you about Kraken Hockey. First, I got to let you know today’s episode of Locked on Kraken brought to you by our friends over at Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. We’re going to talk about goalending. We’re going to talk about a a prospect. We’re going to talk about someone who’s been with the ex the organization since the expansion draft. And we’re going to talk about someone who’s brand new to the organization. And that is exactly where we’re going to start with Matt Murray. I mentioned this the other day, but the Seattle Kraken have of course agreed two terms. Matt Murray one year, $1 million. And you know on at first you’re I I certainly was kind of thinking as I saw this come across the desk so to speak you know what the heck is this going to do for us. Then I remembered Olympic year. Yeah. Me the person who just told you that I’m an accredited media member. Sometimes I compartmentalize things. And so with Philip Grubower guaranteed to be going to the Olympics. This gives the Seattle Kraken a little bit more flexibility. In fact, that’s exactly what we heard from Jason Butterrell. It falls in the same realm we’ve talked about before of just adding competition and adding depth in an Olympic year. It’s a scenario where we felt that it made us stronger down at the goalie position. So, you know, I’m not sure what this means for Murray or any of the other goalenders for that matter with regard to playing time. You’d have to imagine Joey Deord is still the number one with Philip Grubower as that number two. But, you know, for someone who like Matt Murray has dealt with injuries, um, Bal is saying, quote, “We feel he’s healthy. We feel he’s hungry to come in and compete for a position.” So, those are things that they are taking into account. Uh, he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins for 5 years before being traded to Ottawa in 2020. The Senators then sent him over to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he’s been for the past two seasons. On his career, he’s played 266 NHL games with uh 147 wins, 87 losses, a 910 save percentage overall, 280 goals against average. Now, that being said, his numbers have gone up pretty steadily and really ballooned in Toronto, at least if we look at goals against average, his highest of his career, 354. His lowest uh save percentage as well with an 879. That being said, it was only in two games, which I don’t know that that’s necessarily a good thing, but that’s what we’ve seen. Again, he’s dealt with some health issues. He was in Toronto, of course, with Lane Lambert, who is now our head coach. So, um, you know, maybe some familiarity there, which will bode well for comfort and comfortability. We’ll see. But um you know I think more than anything this is about it being an Olympic year. We already know Philip Grubau is going. Is it possible that Joey Dord gets called in for USA hockey? Maybe he was at world championships along with Bern uh Bernard excuse me with Mattie Beneers and Mikey Eimon who we’ll see you know what what the road and the future holds for him. So, you know, I don’t know that there’s much really to kind of expect here except for I I told you the other day, right? Martin Jones. Martin Jones. Good thing we we signed Martin Jones uh with that year when we had Driger and Philip Grubower, both who went down Driggs for the season. And so Martin Jones was huge for us. He was absolutely huge for us. So, you know, we’ll see if um or how I should say he’s kind of integrated into uh into the Seattle Kraken. But, um Philip Grubower, we’re going to talk about him a little bit as we talk about development camp. I I am very curious to see if and how the Seattle Kraken are able to kind of um I I mean I don’t know can they can they fix what from the outside looking in seems like a broken relationship. I mean am I the only one who kind of feels like Philip Grubau got a raw deal? Listen, I I’ve spent many a time here, everydayers know, ogers, no talking about we can’t necessarily rely on Philip Grubower and that has been true. But I didn’t like how things went down. I didn’t like how things looked from my perspective. Maybe they were communicated differently, but you know, Philip Grubower doesn’t say much. He definitely is not known to complain even when he’s asked a direct question. I’ve noticed that about Philip Grubower in the years that I’ve covered the Seattle Kraken. So to see him consistently say before he went to the AHL, while he was in the AHL, and then we when he was back that he didn’t feel that his confidence was waning last year, it was all about getting repetitions. And that is important in in the goalending position and he didn’t get that. So, is he going to get more time? There’s no buyout on the horizon is what we’ve been told. So, he is still a part of the plans for the Seattle Kraken. Is that conditional? Is it conditional from the Seattle Kraken side? Is it conditional from Philip Grubau’s side? Like, does he still want to be here? Does he still believe in the vision of what’s going on with this organization? And, you know, what is that going to look like if the relationship did sour? It just seems like it was a bit sour to me. Let me know in the comments what you think. But if it was sour, you know, can Lane Lambert and the rest of the and Jason Butterl, can they smooth it over? Can they make this work? Because we’re going to need Philip Grubower and knowing that he is going to be in the Olympics. He is going to the Olympics. He’s already been named with team Germany. What does that look like? Does he want to play games early on and then ease up a little bit once it gets closer to the Olympic Games, which of course um you know I don’t know exactly when team Ger Germany will be leaving, but by January, you know, I’d be surprised if if some of the guys are not at least starting to turn over and think about that the the Olympics will be happening effectively in in February. So, you know, what does that look like? What is his timeline? when he when does he leave and depart for the Olympics? Usually, it’s honestly not a lot of time. Um, especially for North American teams. I know the the women’s side a little bit better. Uh, we’ll find out. I was not covering the NHL in 2012, so we’ll see exactly when they leave, but just knowing what happens in other leagues, they don’t really get a lot of time. That being said, European countries do like time together and I think rightfully so before big international competition. So what the Kraken want versus what team Germany wants, what are the similarities, what are the differences there, all things that I guess we will find out. But coming up next on Locked on Kraken, we’re going to talk about the Stucky Cup. Ty Nelson could not uh defend his title and I’ll tell you a little bit w about why coming up on today’s episode. Today’s episode of Locked on Kraken brought to you by our good friends over at Game Time. 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I like that because I’m definitely balling on a budget. So, take the guesswork out of buying concert and show tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L O C K D O N HL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Hey, thanks as always for making Locked on Kraken a part of your daily destination. Your first listen of the day, your midday listen or your late night listen. Either way, we’re so grateful to have you. To my audio listeners, thank you so much if you’re enjoying the show. Hey, make sure to tell a friend. We’ve got some things uh that I’m pretty excited, some people that we’re bringing on board to help with Locked on Kraken. And so I’m I’m really excited for what we can do. Get ready for yet another fantastic training camp. Yes, I will be in Seattle once again, but also, you know, uh, Dev Camp is, uh, pretty solid and we’re going to talk about it. Team Blue won the, uh, Stucky Cup. That is, of course, the annual, uh, the annual threeon-ree competition that happens, um, at development camp. And we got this super duper official screenshot of team white or team west versus team e east. Team west wearing white, team east wearing blue. And you can see Ken uh is on team white there. Jugnuff, Hamilton, uh Homer, Hrix, and Hillbrandt as far as your goalenders. Uh, and then Vendipa, the only goalender for team blue. And we’ll talk about maybe why. O’Brien, uh, McDonald’s there, CR, Los Lushko, uh, Reynolds, Allen. So, that those were the lineups and we’re going to hear from we’re going to hear from Jeff Tambellini a little bit later on the show in the next segment. But Vendipa is someone who, you know, had been injured, was going to play for team Finland. Again, you’ll hear u I almost said Vendipa, you’ll hear Tambolini talk a little bit about that, but it was just a a really good opportunity for these guys to come together. And team blue, they win the Stucky Cup at after being down 3 to one and winning 4-3 overall. And in the 40minute four or excuse me I said three on three. It was a 40-minute fouron four scrimmage. Vendipa made 28 saves in the 4-3 comeback victory. Um, and you know, unofficially, uh, because I don’t know who is taking the stats, but unofficially, Vendipa was said to have made at least 10 gradea saves, four quality stops, um, in a lot of those, or at least a few of those, four, uh, four quality stops exactly on Berkeley Ken. Uh he did beat Ben Vendipa once. Uh that was to give team White the one- nothing lead. And for Vendipa, I felt good out there. I just wanted to enjoy the game and the fans. It felt great today. The team helped me get the win by scoring the three straight second period goals to rally from that 3 to1 deficit. Um and Jeff Tambellini really felt that this was a great camp. Kraken now have 43 prospects all at different stages because again we’ve been at this now for a few years. The the the development camp 12 forwards 14 defensemen and four goalenders. Two of the Dmen were injured so that limited of course their ability to contribute but they were there. Now, something that you’ll hear Tambolini say, but I’ll just reiterate now, is that a lot of the AHL guys, aka Tai Nelson, who has been dominating the Stucky Cup, they were set uh aside. They were not asked to dev camp, which is not a bad thing. That’s a really good thing. And again, Tambellini, I’ll break that down a little bit in the next segment, but this was a really great opportunity for all of the prospects to come together under one roof, not only to for the Seattle organization to get to know them a little bit better, get to assess and evaluate them to then start them on their trajectory of development, but also for the guys to get to know the organization, the city. You’ll hear again a little bit more about that in the next segment. But overall, let me know. Did you get to go to the st I’ve never been to a Stucky Cup. It seems like a good time always. Um, again, Ty Nelson really has enjoyed it. So, um, let me know if you were able to go. It was an open invitation for fans as far as I understand. So, um, you know, let me know if you were able to go. I know some fans were able to attend. they’re always able to attend. And also, as has been the tradition for a while, uh there was a signing, a contract signing. It was our first round pick from this past season that got to sign his contract at development camp. That’s always a big deal. So, congrats. Jake O’Brien signed an entry-level contract uh for three years uh three-year entry-level contract at 975AV. Um, and so you know, uh, this is what Jason Bodell had to say. We’re excited to get Jake signed to his first professional contract. Jake has elite vision and hockey IQ, tremendous work ethic, and a strong two-way game. He understands this is just the beginning. We’re looking forward to his continued development. He played with uh the Brford Bulldogs in the OHL last season and uh 62, we talked about this a little, 62, 177, one of the forwards this year. Uh we’ll talk a little bit about the defenseman in the next segment. Uh he’s from Toronto originally. Uh has played for Hockey Canada in the past. So let me know, were you able to enjoy development camp? If you’ve been following us on social media or if you follow us on YouTube, you’ve seen our amazing new social media coordinator and producer Joe Dabney. She’s been hard at work getting some clips up from Dev Camp even when I because of my move have not always been able to get you those clips, but we have them on social media. So, if you’re not already, make sure you subscribe to Locked on Kraken and follow us on Tik Tok, Locked on Kraken, and you’ll see some of that stuff up there. All right, coming up next, we’ll hear from Jeff. Talks a little bit about the prospects, the thinking behind the development camp, and there was a current active Seattle Kraken member that made a cameo. He breaks down how that happened. We’ll get into that coming up on today’s episode of Locked on Kraken. All right, thanks as always for making Locked on Kraken a party of your daily destination. and Erica L. Ayala here. I’m also your co-host of the Women’s Hockey Report. And on Saturday mornings, we have uh our newest episodes every Saturday. So, check that out on the Locked on NHL channel. I mentioned development camp, but we also have to talk about a prospects game. So, I talked to you about the preseason schedule. We talked about that a few episodes ago, but one of the games particularly is going to be prospects and that is September 13th at Angel of the Winds Arena. This is going to be Prospects versus Prospects Vancouver Canucks Prospects versus Seattle Kraken Prospects. You can get your tickets over at Ticketmaster. They are on sale now. I hope. Well, I’m not sure exactly that. I gotta see if I will be in Seattle around that time, but might have to put it on the on the calendar. We’ve got some WNBA stuff happening also around that time. But you can definitely check it out and we for sure will be keeping our eye on what’s going on so we can talk about it here on Locked on Kraken. What I do want to talk about is development camp from the master himself, Jeff Tambellini. He heads up our you know our prospects and uh development for the Seattle Kraken and um you know he felt that this was one of the best development camps that they’ve had. There was a lot of focus even though there was one fewer day just because of how the calendar and the the holiday calendar um happened. So we’re going to hear from Kraken director of player development Jeff Tambellini. Uh, I have a few little clips. I’ll break them up for you just so we can discuss what he’s talking about. But here are some early uh thoughts or I should say here are some thoughts from Jeff Tambellini immediately following development camp that ended and culminated in the Stucky Cup with the win for team blue.
Well, it’s it’s a good week. This was our our youngest group probably by a by a mile. No American League players, but just really excited to see that next wave of kids start coming in. see some of the younger player take a big step. We’d like to see them in leadership roles. So to see a Jugnoth uh really step up, Ken take a bigger role. Ray Cop, VNOV, all those things uh made for a very good week. Yeah. No, it was a big change for our our drafting strategy. We’ve been low on D for a while. This year we end up with 14D at camp, two are injured, but to get four picks uh was was a great start. You see with Fiddler the size, really excited about that, but we’re excited about this whole this whole cast of guys coming in with Visa. We’re so proud of this kid. Like he dealt with some some tough health issues throughout the year. Missed the whole back half. He was supposed to be one of the the goalenders for team Finland, the World Juniors. So for him to to make the comeback, get in a game, play that well in front of all our fans, uh for us, that’s a 10 out of 10. You know, in that first clip, we heard Tambellini talking about how, you know, th this was a great camp that he felt that they’d been a little bit low on defenseman, which is something that I said pre-draft and some people poo pooed at that, but I mean, it was noticeable that we had been drafting so many centermen. So, he addressed that a little bit. It was great to get the defenseman in camp. He also um alluded to Vendipa and him again missing time with an injury. So to see him be able to play out the full game and I think that’s why they probably gave him the full game for team blue so that he could really get a sense for where he is in his development. So I liked that. But uh speaking of goalending and net minding, uh there was a special guest at camp. So, I want you to hear this next clip where Jeff talks a little bit about kind of what they’re trying to do as far as bringing the the players together, why it’s important, and uh who made a cameo and how he could make an impact on this this young crop of Seattle Kraken players, especially at the position that he plays.
It’s it’s a short amount of days, and we don’t get these guys a lot, but when we do get this group, we’re trying to instill multiple things. So, one, we’re trying to build a foundation for these prospects. Uh, talk about what we do in Seattle, how we do it from a development standpoint. Uh, we were short a day this year. So, uh, tried to give them every ice session with purpose. So, our defenders were with Cory Murphy, our head defense coach. Forwards were with Justin Ry who handles most of our our offensive guys. And then our goalenders had all three of our goalie coaches and Philip Gruber. So, tried to make the most out of every ice session. And I thought just overall they got a chance to see the city, understand our franchise, and really get a good sense of what it means to be a Seattle Kraken. Oh, it’s amazing. You know, he was in the gym on July 1st and I asked him, I said, you know, do you want to go out with the goalies? And he asked if if I was serious. No, of course. They would love to hear from you. So, it goes to show you what Groovy’s made of. Uh the type of person he is. Uh this guy is a first class professional and those four goalies took a ton out of what he gave this week. And uh that’s why grew is groovy and we we appreciate having her here.
That’s right. It was the one and only Philip Grubower that showed up for the young guys. Uh I love how it’s just Tam Tambo and and Groovy in the gym and he’s like, “Hey, come through.” And Grubower was like, “I got you.” So that was pretty dope. Um, you know, I think it’s fantastic to see the buyin when you’ve got the elder statesmen, if you will, that are really dedicated to the the success of the organization in that way. So, stick taps to Philip Grubower. You also heard that it’s not a lot of time, but it’s been a very structured development camp. And so let’s go back to Jeff a little bit more on exactly what he was looking for from development camp here with the Seattle Kraken.
It’s important just that they they become friends because when they get to training camp and they’re up against our best players and and men, it’s it’s these friendships with their with their guys their age that really carry them through those tougher moments. So I think it’s good that they get to know each other. Uh they get to know who they’re competing against. It’s always a good realization when they they see the amount of players, how good these guys are and the resumes and the list of what they’re actually up against. So, uh, a lot of different layers, but we’re happy when they get a chance to come together. It’s always evolving, uh, just with the type of players, the the amount of draft picks. I mean, go to year one where it’s seven guys and there is no camp and now we’re at 43 prospects and we get to pick just the youngest group because we believe our American League systems done a great job and and we don’t need to bring that group in as much. So, we’re always trying to evolve what we do with the kids off the ice, on the ice. I thought this was probably our best on ice of in terms of actually getting accomplished some of the foundational things we want. Uh, and then away from the rink, just trying to make sure they enjoy what Seattle has and what it offers. So, uh, we had to see the Seahawks yesterday and all our guys are out on the field and learning how to throw footballs. Some some well, some not so well, but uh, trying to make it a good experience where they want to come back to Seattle. That’s the biggest thing is feeling comfortable in this building, but just really falling in love with the city of Seattle.
I mean, I love that wanting them to fall in love with the city of Seattle, but also focused on having this core be comfortable with each other because there’s going to be a time where uh they’re competing for spots and but but they’re going to be doing so together. They want to know what’s in the pipeline. They want the pipeline to know what’s in the pipeline and to be able to work together to, you know, have iron sharpen iron. I love this story about, you know, playing a little football, throwing the football around um at Lumen Field, I guess. Uh and some guys it sounds like maybe are not so great at throwing the football around. I will say, I mean, I think it’s more because of my baseball skills that then translated into playing college softball. I could throw a football. I could throw I can definitely throw a baseball further and more accurately, but I can I can uh I can get you a nice little spiral. So, if you need a, you know, two-way quarterback for a little game, let me know when I come through to Seattle. I got you. I got you 100%. All right, the last clip is about Tambellini talking about what comes next because yeah, Kumbaya, we go to dev camp, we’ve got the scrimmage coming up, prospects game, whatever. What does this look like and um what does his role look like specifically? Well, for us the next step is now we we get into the research phase of of really trying to understand this new draft class. You know, we got them we’re trying to play catchup for a couple days of figuring these guys out, but now we have a month to really get into these guys and figure out who they are, what they do well, and how we’re going to help them moving forward.
And so, it’s always great to hear from Jeff. Um, you know, for the last few years, he’s been talking at the end of development camp to media telling us, you know, his evaluation, what comes next, things of that nature. And so, you know, there there was a clip that I didn’t include where he’s kind of joking around about, yeah, there used to be an off season, but there’s not many days off. He does get some days off, but not many because there’s always something that you can be doing to fortify this prospect group. And I, you know, I, if you’re an everydayer, if you’re an Ogerer, you know, I’m obsessed with process. So hopefully I get to pick Jeff’s brain a little bit more on that the closer we get to uh training camp and preseason. That’s our show folks. I hope you are staying safe. Hey, a reminder especially with everything that’s going on in the world in the United States, be kind to yourself. Do what you need to do to reset and recharge your your batteries. And hopefully that I mean it should go without saying but I hope whatever is good for you it comes at harm to none. Um absolutely take care of yourself and try to to be a great person and be kind to others. Uh if you can’t do that maybe the saying if you if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all goes into effect. Anyway uh that’s our show. We hold fast. We stay true. And we say loud and proud. Let’s go cracking. I’ll catch you on the next episode. Peace out, everybody.

Seattle Kraken fans, Matt Murray joins the Kraken! 🥅 What does this mean for Seattle’s goaltending depth in an Olympic year?

Host Erica L. Ayala, an accredited media member and your guide to all things Kraken, breaks down Murray’s one-year deal and how it impacts the team’s goalie lineup, including insights on Philip Grubauer, Joey Daccord, and the Kraken’s approach to competition and flexibility.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Intro
00:55 – Matt Murray Highlights
05:00 – Philipp Grubauer Analysis
17:34 – Get Your Tickets Information
18:30 – Tambellini on Development Camp
21:00 – Grubauer’s Cameo Appearance
23:01 – Goals of Development Camp
24:08 – Jeff’s Thoughts on On-Ice Performance
25:40 – Next Steps in Development
26:52 – Importance of Self-Kindness

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Locked On Kraken is a daily podcast covering the 32nd NHL team! Host and freelancer journalist Erica L. Ayala (Locked on WBB, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, and more) helped the then NHL Seattle franchise launch the Seattle Kraken brand back in July 2020.

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