Darcy Kuemper

At 34 years old, Darcy Kuemper has this physical status:

Darcy Kuemper (born May 5, 1990) is a professional ice hockey goaltender for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. (NHL)

In the sixth round, 161st overall, of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, he was chosen by the Minnesota Wild.

Early life

Kuemper was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on May 5, 1990, to police officer Brent Kuemper and accountant Sharon Kuemper. Saskatoon is home to a large ice hockey team, and Kuemper started ice skating at the age of three. Players would take various turns at goaltender in his early youth hockey leagues, and Kuemper has always loved his turns. He decided to become a full-time goaltender at the age of 10. The goaltender's enjoyment of the position stemmed from the fact that, although other skaters were on and off the ice in shifts, the goaltender was always present in play. Kuemper used to play minor ice hockey with fellow Saskatoon natives Luke and Brayden Schenn as a child.

Kuemper's goaltending skills first attracted notice as he competed for the Saskatoon Contacts and Blazers in the Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL) as an adolescent. Kuemper, who spent time in net for the Contacts with Carl Jahrus, had a 16-3 record and was third in the league with 2.32 goals against average during the 2005–06 SMAAAHL season (GAA). Kuemper and the Blazers came within one game of winning the SMAAAHL championship in 2008, but they lost in five games to the Notre Dame Hounds.

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Playing career

In the 2005 WHL Bantam Draft, the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL) selected Kuemper 45th overall. Kuemper had 19 seconds of goal time with Spokane after he released starting goaltender Dustin Tokarski at the end of a season during the 2007 WHL playoffs, with the majority of his time under contract. Spokane sold Kuemper, who was then playing with the Blazers, to the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft.

Kuemper made his WHL debut in 2008-09 season while supporting Morgan Clark and the Rebels. He had taken over as the Red Deer's everyday goaltender halfway through the season, but not before.

Kuemper spent three seasons with the Red Deer Rebels, winning the Del Wilson Trophy in the 2010-2011 season as the WHL's best goaltender, as well as the CHL Goaltender of the Year with 45 victories, a goals against average (GAA) of 1.86, and a save percentage of.933.

Kuemper agreed to a three-year, entry-level deal with the Minnesota Wild on May 26, 2011. He was loaned to the Ontario Reign of the ECHL on October 13, 2011. Kuemper was later remembered by the Wild on November 12, 2011.

Kuemper was recalled by the Wild on February 12, 2013. The Wild recalled Kuemper and the team's starting goaltender, Niklas Bäckström, after Josh Harding was sick due to multiple sclerosis treatments. Kuemper won his first NHL victory over the Detroit Red Wings on February 17, 29 saves on 31 shots.

Kuemper was recalled by the Wild on May 1, 2013 to assist Josh Harding, who had been recovering from an injury to Niklas Bäckström. Kuemper made his Stanley Cup playoff debut on May 7 when he replaced Harding, who had sustained a left leg injury in the first period of a game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Kuemper started in Game 3 of the Wild's Western Conference Quarter-finals match against the Colorado Avalanche in the new season's playoffs, replacing Ilya Bryzgalov. Kuemper remained in the game for the first time before suffering an accident in Game 7 of the same sequence. Following Minnesota's overtime victory, Bryzgalov replaced Kuemper once more, and was credited with the victory. Kuemper debuted as Minnesota's starter, with Bryzgalov's resignation and Harding unable to play. Kuemper suffered, and Minnesota acquired Devan Dubnyk, who immediately became the starter. Kuemper and Niklas Bäckström were back in Dubnyk's backup for the season split time.

Kuemper agreed to a one-year, $650,000 contract with the Los Angeles Kings on July 1, 2017. Kuemper did well in Kuemper's backup role in 19 appearances from 2017-18.

Kuemper was traded to the Arizona Coyotes for goaltender Scott Wedgewood and forward Tobias Rieder on February 21, 2018. Kuemper was immediately re-signed by the Coyotes to a two-year, $3.7 million contract extension.

Kuemper appeared in a career-high 55 games and set a record of 27-20-8. He came in fifth place in the Vezina Trophy, which is given to the NHL's top goaltender.

The Coyotes announced Kuemper to a two-year, $9 million contract extension on October 2, 2019, ahead of the 2019-20 season. He appeared in 29 games with a 16–11–2 record and a.928 save percentage before the regular season was prematurely ended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kuemper was widely considered the deciding factor in the Coyotes' win over the Nashville Predators in the qualifying round when the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs were tensely held in Canada in a bubble. In four games where the Predators defeated the Coyotes in each, he had a 93 percent save percentage. The Coyotes advanced to face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round after losing in five games. Kuemper had a.895 save percentage in the series, but overall, his team was winless in a situation where his team was overmatched, and the team's lone victory in Game 3 was largely praised.

Kuemper played only 27 of 56 games in the shortened 2020–21 season, his last with the Coyotes. He had only a.907 save percentage, which The Athletic described as "serviceable" considering the team's poor defense.

Kuemper was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2022 first-round draft pick, a 2024 conditional third-round pick, and defenseman Conor Timmins on July 28, 2021. He was brought on to replace the team's former starter, Philipp Grubauer, who wanted to leave the free agency to the Seattle Kraken. Although the team did well from the start of the season, Kuemper was considered shaky, and after an early injury caused him to miss time, it posed concerns about the Avalanche's goaltending. However, by the mid-season's end, he had been considered to have soared sharply. Kuemper finished with 37 victories (a career high), an overall record of 37–12–4, 5 shutouts, and a.921 save percentage in the regular season, all of which were ranked in the top five for NHL goaltenders for the season. In the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Avalanche finished second overall in the NHL in points and drew the Nashville Predators.

Kuemper played his first two games against the Predators in the first round, but was forced to leave midway through Game 3 after Predators forward Ryan Johansen's stick mistakenly slipped through his mask and poked him in the eye. He missed the fourth and final game of the season that concluded the Avalanche's sweep of the Predators, but the injury was minor. He returned to the ice for the second round series and led the Avalanche over the St. Louis Blues in 6 games for the first time in 21 years. However, he was forced to leave early in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers. With backup goaltender Pavel Francouz taking over again, it was announced that he would not participate in Game 2 due to an unspecified upper body injury. Kuemper returned to the roster for Game 4 as backup to Francouz, where the Avalanche swept the Oilers and advanced to the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. He has played a role as a starter for Game 1 of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kuemper made history by scoring an assist on an overtime goal in the Cup Finals, taking his team just one win away from the Stanley Cup. Kuemper defeated Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy one last time and stopped 22 of 23 shots as the Avalanche claimed their third title in franchise history.

Kuemper was a free agent in the Washington Capitals on July 13, 2022, until he was released on July 13, 2022 as a free agent.

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