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Capitals reportedly ‘very interested’ in Darcy Kuemper as free agency approaches

By Ian Oland

 13 Comments

July 9, 2022 5:18 pm

Brian MacLellan traded Vitek Vanecek to the New Jersey Devils on Friday, which was, according to the Capitals GM, the “first step in the process to make a change” to the team’s goaltending.

With MacLellan poised to make a big splash in the goalie market in the coming days, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that the Capitals are gearing up to make a big run at pending unrestricted free agent Darcy Kuemper, who helped lead the Colorado Avalanche to the Stanley Cup this past season.

The six-foot-five, 32-year-old goaltender is coming off a career year where he went 37-12-4 with a .921 save percentage and five shutouts. According to ESPN reporting during the draft, Kuemper and his agent are looking for a six-year deal worth $6 million per season.

Friedman made his comments on the 32 Thoughts podcast after the 2022 NHL Draft ended:

The team I’ve heard on Kuemper for quite a long time now, a team that has been interested in him, is Washington. I’m not going to say Washington is going to get him. But, I do know, Washington’s very interested in him and have been motivated by Kuemper for quite some time now.

So we’ll see where that goes.

When it comes to Kuemper, what I think happens was Colorado just said we can’t make it work. You’d really have to accept way below market value to stay here and I think Kuemper saw that and he went out to the market.

During the Draft, Avalanche sent three picks to the New York Rangers for their young star backup, Alexandar Georgiev. GM Joe Sakic confirmed in a TV interview with ESPN that Georgiev will compete with the team’s current backup, Pavel Francouz, for playing time and said that Kuemper would be moving on.

The price to sign Kuemper or land another top goaltender in this market will be steep, a sentiment MacLellan agreed with in his post-draft interview.

Friedman elaborated on that fact during the 32 Thoughts Podcast:

There’s one team that told me that they counted 14 teams that believe they’re looking at goalies or involved in moves with goalies right now. So there’s a lot of competition.

I had one team joke with me today that when it comes to the goalie markets, there’s a lot of conversation going out there. You can question if it’s legal or illegal conversation, but it’s happening. All of these teams, all of these agents, all of these goalies have done what they can to determine what the market is and where it’s going. For example, in (Jack) Campbell, there are teams that believe the market is 5×5.

Regardless of if they sign Kuemper or not, MacLellan will be aggressive to change the dynamic of the team’s goaltending.

“We’re open to all avenues,” MacLellan said. “I think the goaltending market is changing as we go here, day by day. You try and stay in things you feel you’re attracted to and there might be a good fit. We’ve got free agency coming up on Wednesday. We’ll be involved in all of the discussions about goalies.”

Bio pic: @kuemps35/Instagram

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