The Seattle Kraken weren't without their share of mistakes in the 2021 Expansion Draft and ensuing offseason.

The team passed up on big names like Max Domi, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jakub Voracek, and others who could've helped out this season, in order to preserve cap space. As a result, we expected the Kraken to have a less-than-stellar forward group and potentially some issues scoring goals.

While the team's defense group looked relatively strong heading into the year, the area that seemed to be the most solid for Seattle was their goaltending. The team signed goaltenders Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, who seemed to be potential Jennings Trophy favorites.

Grubauer was coming off posting a .922 save percentage with the Colorado Avalanche and had extremely consistent stats throughout his career, having never posted below a .915 save percentage in any season. At 30 years old, a decline didn't seem to be nearing and his six-year contract at a $5.9 million cap hit presented as though it would bring very fair value.

Driedger, on the other hand, had less experience but was also coming off an excellent campaign with the Florida Panthers, posting a .927 save percentage over 23 games last season. He signed a three-year deal at a $3.5 million cap hit and while $9.4 million may be a good chunk of money to invest into goaltending, all signs pointed to Seattle having one of the best tandems in the league.

This has not been the case. The Kraken have found themselves in a terrible spot, holding a 10-19-4 record this year and sitting with the fourth-worst points percentage in the NHL, with a major reason for this being their goaltending. Seattle currently has the third-highest goals against per game in the league and has allowed at least five goals in 10 of their 33 games this season. Grubauer sits with an atrocious .882 save percentage over 25 games, while Driedger's .892 save percentage in nine contests is a disaster on its own.

Sometimes in cases like this, it's a matter of the team allowing far too many shots or key chances and the goalies end up being the scapegoat – but this isn't one of those times. Unbelievably, the Kraken are actually allowing the third-fewest shots against per game of any team in the league.

While the team has allowed 121 goals against this season, this is much, much higher than stats indicate the number should be sitting at. Between Grubauer, Driedger and Joey Daccord (who has played in three games for the team), the netminders have combined to allow a brutal 32 more goals than expected, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. If the Kraken had allowed 32 fewer goals, they'd actually be averaging around 2.7 goals against per game, which would put them in the top-10 teams for fewest goals against.

Based on numbers from HockeyReference.com, Grubauer himself leads the league in most goals allowed above average by a huge margin at 18, with Joonas Korpisalo in second place, way back at nine goals higher than average. It's a wildly unexpected turn of events considering last season, Grubauer and Driedger ranked sixth and eighth respectively in the entire league in goals saved above average, based on the stats from Hockey Reference.

The team isn't without other issues, as Seattle still ranks 23rd in the league in goals for per game. The team is lacking legitimate top forwards and could really use some of the players they passed up on in the expansion draft.  The Kraken also rank bottom-10 in the league in expected goals for percentage, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

That said, finding a way to solve their issues in net has to be a key concern for the Kraken going forward. The major problem, however, is that both Grubauer and Driedger are under contract for multiple more seasons and while we probably wouldn't expect the team to give up on their netminders this early into just their first season with the team anyways, they don't really even have that option.

Looking back, the Kraken did have other notable options in goal available, including Jonathan Quick and Carey Price (though Price has yet to play this season). However, based on the information available, including age, recent performance and career stats, Grubauer and Driedger seemed like the perfect tandem.

Seattle could look for another option in net, but they'd likely have to be some sort of temporary fix. Then factor in that the Kraken would need to give up future assets to bring in anyone worthwhile and that's an unrealistic option, given the team's current position.

So while the team can try their best to figure things out, the reality is that until their goaltenders are able to find their games again, the Kraken are going to have a very hard time finding any success. The team's situation in net comes as a surprise, given what was projected to be one of the strongest goalie tandems in the league has sunk the Kraken so far this season.