Credit © William Liang-Imagn ImagesLOS ANGELES, CA — For five seasons, whether via trade, free agency, or injury, the Los Angeles Kings have cycled through an ensemble of starting goaltenders. Jonathan Quick, Joonas Korpisalo, Cam Talbot, Darcy Kuemper. That's a lengthy list for half a decade of turnaround and, in all likelihood, the highest turnover rate at the starting goaltender position among all qualified playoff teams over that span.
Quick provided 16 years of stability in net: two Championships, three straight Conference Finals, a Conn Smythe in 2012, and a Vezina robbery that same year: 35-21-13, .929 Sv%, 1.95 GAA, 10 shutouts, a finalist selection but robbed due to the W-L-OTL category. He remained a strong netminder until his play collapsed in 2022-23, the Kings then pivoted to Korpisalo, who shined in the first half of Round One against the Oilers before dissolving over the final three games.
McLellan's Kings then bet on a familiar connection from his days in Edmonton in Talbot, who delivered a resurgent season, top ten in most categories, including seventh in save percentage on shots on goal (.913, min. 40 GP), and the league's best goaltender on the penalty kill: a league-leading .919 Sv% and 10.6 goals saved above expected. Nine powerplay goals in a five-game exit to the Oilers made it a footnote.
The team pivoted away from the Pierre-Luc Dubois experiment, a cap-crippling trade that didn't pan out, and landed Kuemper, hoping to replicate the Talbot effect once more. It worked, emphatically. The 2024-25 season confirmed that the goalie rejuvenation process is real in Los Angeles. The team matched a franchise record with 105 points, and Kuemper became a Vezina finalist, the first since Quick was passed over in 2011-12. Kuemper landed in the top five in most league categories, second in GAA at 2.02. Had it not been for Hellebuyck's historic season in Winnipeg, the Kings might have had their first Vezina winner in franchise history.
One offseason and an early-season Mikko Rantanen injury later, the Vezina finalist is a shell of himself, and the numbers aren't subtle about it. Kuemper currently ranks 20th in goals saved above expected, 20th in save percentage on unblocked shots, and 20th in save percentage above expected — all situations, minimum 40 GP. One season removed from a historic individual campaign, he's squarely average.
The Rantanen connection is worth examining closely. From October 7th through December 15th — the window before the injury in Dallas — Kuemper was among the league's best: .934 Sv% (3rd), 1.62 GAA (3rd), 11.76 GSAA (3rd), minimum 500 minutes at even strength. Since the injury, among the 38 goaltenders who have logged 1,000 minutes, those same categories read: 29th, 24th, 29th. The drop is severe. It's also worth acknowledging that Kuemper is playing in front of a reshuffled, diminished blueline that bears little resemblance to last season's unit. The environment itself has changed dramatically.
That context matters. But it doesn't change the reality on the ice: Kuemper is ceding the starter's role to his backup, just as he did during his tenure in Washington. Anton Forsberg has emerged as a legitimate number one, something completely unexpected after last season’s results.
In that same post-injury window, among those same 38 goaltenders at 1,000 minutes of five-on-five play, Forsberg ranks 1st in Sv% (.930), 3rd in GAA (1.91), and 2nd in GSAA (13.55). Those numbers are diluted across all situations — 5th, 10th, and 7th, respectively — but the separation from Kuemper is unambiguous regardless of the sample.
This isn't a full-blown panic moment. Strong team play has elevated goaltending numbers across the board during the push to clinch their fifth straight playoff appearance, and Forsberg is a beneficiary of that environment as much as he is a driver of it. But it is a genuine inflection point, and the timing is loaded. Both Kuemper and Forsberg are set to expire at the end of 2026-27, at ages 36 and 34, respectively.
Should the Kings clinch over the next few games, skepticism about Forsberg as a playoff starter is warranted. He has never suited up for a playoff game in his entire career, not as a starter, not in relief. The uncertainty doesn't stop there, either. What the position looks like beyond next season is an open question, even with three promising prospects in the pipeline.
The Kings have bought themselves one more year to figure it out regarding the stability of their crease. The answers aren't obvious yet, with a backup about to headline a potential quick exit in the playoffs.