According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the Arizona Coyotes might be shopping Darcy Kuemper.
This year was an interesting one for the Arizona Coyotes. Though they made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2011-12 season, they got embarrassed in the first round by the Colorado Avalanche. Few teams have been hit harder by the pandemic than the Coyotes. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the team is deeply considering a rebuild.
The punishment they’ve received for illegally scouting players could force them to make a huge trade to replenish their resources.
Due to the penalty and trading for players, Arizona won’t have a draft pick in the first three rounds of the 2020 draft. Additionally, they lost a first round and third pick pick in 2021.
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They’re reportedly open to trading team captain Oliver-Ekman Larsson, though his no-movement clause could complicate things.
Elliotte Friedman had a lot to say about the Coyotes in his latest 31 Thoughts article. None of them were more interesting than this.
"Even with an active goalie market, Darcy Kuemper is a very attractive piece thanks to his impressive playoff performance."
He further talked about this on Sportsnet 650.
Elliotte Friedman on SN650 says now that the Coyotes have been hit with a pretty big penalty (2020 2nd, 2021 1st), he thinks they'll consider rebuilding and that Darcy Keumper's name will be out there.
— #1 A'Ja Wilson Fan (@Account4hockey) August 30, 2020
Also says Markstrom wants a 6M+ AAV.
Even with a goalie market that includes names such as Braden Holtby and Robin Lehner, Kuemper would get a ton of interest if he’s on the trading block. Kuemper is signed for two more seasons at $4.5 million per year. That’s insanely cheap for someone as good as Kuemper, who probably should have been a Vezina Trophy finalist.
With several teams looking to upgrade in net, the Coyotes could easily replenish what they’ve lost lately by trading him. Especially since the Coyotes already have Adin Hill and Antti Raanta. The latter did extremely well during the regular season while Kuemper was injured.
All of that said, I don’t think the Coyotes will actually trade Kuemper unless they get an offer that blows them away. I think they’re merely checking to see if any team wants to match the understandably rich price tag it would take to trade for him.