Darcy Kuemper is Now a Fantastic Zero-G Option
Moving from D.C. to L.A. has boost Darcy Kuemper's fantasy hockey value considerably despite a difficult 2023-24 season.
Darcy Kuemper's career trajectory has always been a little strange. He had finished top-10 in Vezina voting twice with the Coyotes and backstopped the Avs to the Stanley Cup, and up until this past season with the Caps ranked 15th in Sv% out of 90 goalies who played at least 100 games since Kuemper's rookie season. That's really good — he's tied with household names such as Fleury, Rinne, Lundqvist and Bobrovsky.
And yet he's won 30 games just once in his career and about to go on a return tour with the Kings, one of five organizations he's already played for. The Caps swapped him for Pierre-Luc Dubois on June 19, dealing with a position of relative strength with Charlie Lindgren in net and acquiring a much-needed center.
Kuemper's showing in 2022's Cup run wasn't particularly strong, but neither was Pavel Francouz's, and the Avs figured to be the type of team that didn't need elite goaltending to win games. But who am I to argue with Joe Sakic, right?
Kuemper instead landed a big contract with the Caps, and his numbers in his first season were considerably worse (22-26-7, .908 Sv%, 2.87 GAA), though that was expected playing in the twilight years of the Alex Ovechkin era.
But Kuemper's numbers were even worse in his second season, and his numbers dropped to .890 Sv% and 3.31 GAA. He ended up losing the starting job to Charlie Lindgren, who figures to be the Caps' 1A option.
This a great move for Kuemper. Like the Avs where he enjoyed his best season, the Kings don't exactly need stellar goaltending to win games. At 34 years old, Kuemper's best seasons were thought to be behind him, but Pheonix Copley was 31 years old and a career minor leaguer before his magical run, and Cam Talbot was 36 years old last season.
I like Kuemper's chances of a bounce-back year after an alarmingly low .780 5v5 high-danger Sv%, which ranked 65th out of 71 goalies with at least 600 TOI, compared to his two-year average of .812, which is ahead of bothPheonix Copley (.791) and Talbot (.794).
And guess who ranked fourth in fewest high-danger shot attempts against last season? Yup, the Kings, while the Caps ranked 24th. Kuemper's job is going to be much, much easier, and as a result his stats should improve.
His competition will be David Rittich, who ranked sixth in high-danger Sv% last season, But does anyone really trust Rittich? Sometimes, I feel like his 'Big Save Dave' moniker is more in jest than a term of endearment, and he is likely what he already is — a career journeyman.
All this to say that Kuemper suddenly seems like an attractive and undervalued zero-G option. The Kings will likely split between Rittich and Kuemper to start, but if Kuemper wins the net , he could post numbers similar to Talbot's last season (27-20-6, .913 Sv%, 2.50 GAA), who ended up being a good zero-G option.
That's meaningful, especially when you're drafting him in the later rounds where half the plays get inevitably dropped. To be safe, you probably want to roster both Kuemper and Rittich — you just never know — and that way you get basically all of the Kings' wins, and also feel the constant emotional drain of trying to follow a goalie tandem as a fantasy GM. (It's a rite of passage).
Among other current zero-G options include:
Devon Levi, Sabres - Still seen as a potential franchise goalie and therefore a threat to steal Ukko-Pekko Luukkonen's job.
Pyotr Kochetkov, Hurricanes - Frederik Andersen is entering the last year of his contract.
Justus Annunen, Avalanche - Alexandar Georgiev must be on a short leash, and Annunen showed well last season.
Ville Husso, Red Wings - Someone has to take the reins in net and Husso is their first option. Hopefully, he can hang ontothe job.
Samuel Ersson, Flyers - The Flyers' leap was surprising and Matvei Michkov is coming. Someone has to stop pucks for a promising team.
Alex Nedeljkovic, Penguins - Tristan Jarry's an injury concern and Nedeljkovic earned a two-year extension earlier this summer.
Connor Ingram, Utah - Utah's building it's defense and it looks good so far adding Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino, and he has the inside track on the starting job for what could be a surprisingly good team.