GOAT of the Week

7/11/22

I know I haven’t done one of these in a while, get off my fucking back aight. This one is going to be kinda far fetched and a doozy, so bear with me, but this week’s GOAT of the Week is Stanley Cup champion, Darcy Kuemper.

Last week during the NHL draft, the Colorado Avalanche traded draft picks to the New York Rangers in exchange for last year’s backup goalie Alexander Georgiev. Georgiev then received a contract extension from the Avs, giving him 3 years at $3.4 million AAV, so anyone who thought that Joe Sakic planned on Kuemper staying was dead wrong.

Georgiev is good, but hell was going to freeze over before he got the start over Igor Shesterkin. He may be better the Kuemper, maybe not, but that’s a risk Sakic is willing to take.

Where the hell am I going with this? Hear me out: Darcy Kuemper to the Caps. If I lost you, then get the fuck out, but just listen to me for a second here.

Kemper is going into free agency in 2 days. He just won the cup which will make him a little expensive, but he has been shaky, which could lower his salary level. I think he would want to be on a team that is in WIN NOW MODE that doesn’t have an answer in net. Let’s look around the league first.

I’m looking at just playoff teams from last year. Every team that made it the their conference finals have an answer in between the pipes, so that eliminates those options. In the West, Calgary, St. Louis, and Nashville all have goalies in place for the future. The Wild just signed Marc-Andre Fleury so he’s staying up in Minnesota and Jonathan Quick isn’t Leaving LA, who’s gearing up for a run. In the East, Florida and Carolina are set in net, they just need their goalies to stay healthy right before playoff time next year. Shittsburgh just needed Jarry healthy during the Rangers series and they honestly might’ve won in 7. Boston is in a weird phase right now with a new head coach, a terrible GM, and question marks as to weather Bergeron is staying or leaving. Toronto is Toronto, if Kuemper wants to deal with that then good luck. What team is left? The Washington Capitals.

The Caps still have most of their core group that won the cup 4 years ago. If they didn’t get the injury bug during the playoffs, they could’ve potentially beaten Florida in 6 or 7. Laviolette started Vitek Vanecek in net for the playoffs, but after 2 games quickly turned to Ilya Samsonov, which wasn’t much help either. The Caps just traded away VV to the Devils too, so right now the goalie room is Samsonov, Pheonix Copley, and the stall for the new starting goalie, Darcy Kuemper.

It makes total sense for him to sign 2-3 years with the Caps. Why wouldn’t he want to either? Healthy on paper, the Caps can compete with anyone. They have a decent group of defensemen lead by John Carlson, an older but talented 4 lines of forwards, and a more defensive minded coach in Peter Laviolette. Oh yeah, you wouldn’t have to face Ovi in a game anymore too, which doesn’t hurt. Brian MacLellan isn’t shy on signing big names either; look back to when the Caps signed Zdeno Chara and Henrik Lundqvist before that.

Caps fans can remember how well Holtby played during the run to the cup, and he didn’t even start the playoffs, Philipp Grubauer did. You need a hot goalie to win the cup, that’s what HoltBEAST was. If the Caps want to make any noise in the postseason in the next four years while they still have Backstrom, Ovi, and the rest of the go-to guys, it is in their best interest to go after Darcy Kuemper. I hope Kuemper sees this, so he knows he’s wanted. Please come to DC, especially since you’re the GOAT of the Week.