Goalies
The goalies were a weakness the last couple seasons but not this season. Even in tough losses, they rarely are ever on the net minders.
Darcy Kuemper was the big name they got over the offseason. While his record isn’t his greatest, his goals against average and save percentage are much better than Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek.
Kuemper is 15-14-4 with a 2.62 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.
The Capitals also brought in Charlie Lindgren who has been a valuable backup and even shined big time in December when Kuemper was hurt.
Lindgren is 12-6-2 with a 2.67 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
Overall I’ve been impressed with both goalies. Kuemper I wasn’t shocked with so far this season as he faces even stiffer competition in the Metropolitan Division. The biggest shocker I had was finding someone as valuable as Lindgren available on the market.
Grade B: The goaltending has been much better than last year. If this post was written a year ago, that goaltending duo of Vanecek and Samsonov would’ve gotten a D. This year they get a B which is a much better outcome you could hope for. But then again it’s also a midterm grade and not quite a final grade so they need to keep it going.