Darcy Kuemper was Washington’s big addition of last summer, and he was fine. He was just fine.

By the Numbers

For on-ice percentages, 50 percent means even: both teams possess the puck evenly. Higher is better, lower is worse.

Isolated Impact by HockeyViz

About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com show how likely to become a goal shots are from different locations on the ice against this goalie. If the hexagon dot is red, then the goalie is weaker against those shots compared to league average. If the hexagon dot is blue, then the goalie is better against those shots. Blue is good; red is bad. 

Player Card by Evolving Hockey

About this player card: This image from Evolving Hockey shows how the goalies saving statistics compared to league average for a goalie. The leftmost bar in each group shows the team overall, then the three to the right show the goalie’s save percentage with adjustments for quality. The numbers are Z-scores, also known as standard deviations, indicating how far the number is from league average, where two standard deviations means the player is on the extreme edge of the league.

Fan Happiness Survey

About this visualization: At three times during the season, RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player:

On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?

1 means VERY UNHAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
2 means UNHAPPY
3 means NEITHER HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY
4 means HAPPY
5 means VERY HAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM

The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.

Exit Interview

Peter’s Take

The Caps needed a star goalie last summer, and they found one in then-Cup-winner Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper had toiled in obscurity in Arizona before putting up a superhuman performance in Colorado’s regular season prior to the Cup run. He was just okay in those playoffs, though he was dealing with an eye problem that would later require surgery. Then he came to Washington on a reasonable deal, $5.3 million through 2026-27.

I think there might be a gap between our memory of Kuemper’s performance and his numbers. Heck, not even the numbers agree. According to Moneypuck, Kuemper saved 9 goals better than expected. Natural Stat Trick says it was 10 goals better than expected, and Evolving Hockey says it was 13. In any case, that ranks Kuemper somewhere outside the league’s top 15 – good enough to be a reliable positive impact, but not a game-breaker who personally delivers multiple wins all on his own. Given where the Caps were before last summer, I think he’s been a clear upgrade – even if those outgoing goalies went on to success of various kinds with their new clubs. It was time to move on.

At 33, Kuemper now looks down a scary aging curve for goalies. I think he’s got a couple seasons before age really takes hold, and that’s about how long the entire team has as well.

DK on RMNB

• The team sorta let Kuemper down in his first appearance.
• Check out his retro Screaming Eagle mask.
• He also had an Olie Kolzig tribute mask.
• Kuemper deadlifted the Caps to a win on Halloween.
• I had a good time comparing DK to ex-Caps goalies all season. They were all fine in different ways!
• Kuznetsov and Ovechkin can’t spell his last name.
• In early December, Kuemper took an elbow to the head. He went on injured reserve and came back before the holiday break.
• He did not learn the lessons of Jurassic Park.
• Okay last gear thing: nifty pads for the Stadium Series.
• By the end of January, Kuemper got pulled twice in four games and seemingly lost his spot for a moment. One month later, he was getting basically every start. He even played both halves of a back-to-back.
• And that night he had a MELTDOWN.
• He — and you’re not gonna believe this — got hurt in mid-March.
• He came back and again played both halves of a back-to-back. What the dickens.
• Almost got the goalie goal.

Your Turn

Is Kuemper better than what we saw last season? Not that last season was bad, but is that all he is?

This article would not be possible without HockeyViz, Evolving Hockey, Natural Stat Trick, and All Three Zones. Please consider joining us in supporting them. For people interested in learning more from those resources, we recently published video walkthroughs.