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Goalie Darcy Kuemper is expected to sign with the Washington Capitals in free agency, per multiple reports.
Officially official: Capitals have signed goaltender Darcy Kuemper to a five-year, $26.25 million deal.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) July 13, 2022
$5.25M AAV
Washington has its No. 1 goalie.
Kuemper has bounced around the league in his career. It began in 2012 with the Minnesota Wild and he spent five seasons there. He split the 2017-2018 season between the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes. Kuemper played three more seasons with the Coyotes before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche ahead of the 2021-2022 season and it was great timing as they won the Stanley Cup this season.
Kuemper played in 57 games last season and had a 37-12-4 record. He started in goal every game of the Stanley Cup Finals and was the winning goalie as the team raised the cup. Kuemper is coming off a two-year extension worth $9 million. With all of the short extensions in his career, this is his seventh contract.
The Capitals went in a completely different direction at goalie this offseason. Washington had two RFA goalies in Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek, both of which were let go either via trade or non-tender. Instead, the Caps are looking to bring in someone with experience and Kuemper brings plenty coming off the Cup win. Washington has had issues in net since Braden Holtby started to decline and was let go.