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The Seattle Kraken have made the difficult decision to part ways with the goaltender who they not only made the first in their history but also had locked up to a multi-year contract.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer has landed on waivers on Wednesday afternoon, meaning that he'll have 24 hours to be claimed by any of the other 31 NHL clubs; if he goes unclaimed, he'll be sent to the American Hockey League.
The news was first reported by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on X.
Grubauer has been upstaged as the starter in the Seattle crease by Joey Daccord, whom the Kraken also recently signed to a multi-year extension. He's under contract for an additional two seasons with a $5.9 million cap hit.
So far this season, he has a porous record of 5-15-1 with a 3.83 goals-against average and a .866 save percentage.
Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer is playing on his third NHL team
A native of Rosenheim, Germany, Grubauer was originally selected by the Washington Capitals with the 112th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. He would later make his debut with Washington in the 2012-23 NHL season while also splitting time with their American Hockey League affiliate Hershey Bears.
His first full campaign in the NHL took place in 2015-16 when he was named the full-time backup to starter Brayden Holtby. However, Grubauer found himself getting more time between the pipes, and even was named the starter for the first two games of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But he was eventually replaced by Holtby, who would go on to lead the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
An unrestricted free-agent, Grubauer chose to sign a three-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche, and immediately took over their starting role and led them to three straight appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Upon the conclusion of his deal with the Avalanche, he signed six-year, $35.4 million contract with the Kraken.