The Washington Capitals have their goalies. First they acquired Darcy Kuemper, fresh off a Stanley Cup championship with the Colorado Avalanche, will fill the void left behind by Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov. It was no secret that the organization wasn’t happy with the young duo in-net and were looking to make significant changes.
Officially official: Capitals have signed goaltender Darcy Kuemper to a five-year, $26.25 million deal.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) July 13, 2022
$5.25M AAV
Washington has its No. 1 goalie.
At 32-years-old, Kuemper, will provide experience in-net that the Capitals haven’t had since Braden Holtby was between the pipes. Many fans around the league question the length of the term, given Kuemper’s age, but the deal is front-loaded which will benefit the Capitals as Kuemper becomes older, giving the organization flexibility to move Kuemper or pay another goalie if his production drops off as the years go on.
Kuemper contract with Caps
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 13, 2022
Year 1, $6 M
Year 2, $6 M
Year 3, $6 M
Year 4, $4.5 M
Year 5, $3.75 M
Darcy Kuemper has a career save percentage of .918 despite playing on some pretty bad Arizona teams. Last season with the Avs, he was 37-12-4 with a .921 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.54. What stands out to me was his goals saved above expected number of 25.1 in 57 starts. The one knock on Kuemper is that he’s played in more than 40 games in a season only twice, back in 2018-2019 and a season ago in Colorado.
Alex Ovechkin is an ageless wonder, but he will be 37-years-old next season, and the window on the organization’s chances to win another Stanley Cup is undoubtedly shrinking and Brian MacLellan sees that. No more waiting for goaltenders to develop, the Caps need someone who has proven they can win at the highest level.
Caps GM Brian MacLellan on signing Darcy Kuemper: “Darcy is an established starting netminder who proved that he can win on the game’s biggest stage, and we are excited to welcome him to Washington. We feel this signing will provide our team confidence and stability in net.”
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) July 13, 2022
The Capitals will now begin to fill out the rest of their roster which included the signing of Charlie Lindgren to be the team’s backup goalie behind Darcy Kuemper. This was an interesting choice as Pheonix Copley headed to the Los Angeles Kings and it looks like they’re going to keep Zach Fucale in Hershey unless one of them gets hurt.
Last season he won every start going 5-0-0 with a 1.22 goals against average and a .958 save percentage. That save percentage was his career high and he looks to be a solid backup addition for the Caps.