Will Darcy Kuemper be able to hold his own on the Avalanche?
After losing Philipp Grubauer, the Avalanche acquired Darcy Kuemper. Will Kuemper be able to hold his own on the Avs, a team that relied so heavily on Grubauer?
In a shocking move, Philipp Grubauer decided not to sign with the Colorado Avalanche and instead signed with the Seattle Kraken, leaving the Avalanche without a starting goalie. That is, until they traded defenseman Conor Timmins, forward Liam O’Brien, a first-round 2022 pick, and a conditional 2024 third-round pick for Darcy Kuemper. The question now remains: will Kuemper be able to hold his own on the Avalanche and will he be able to fill the space left by Grubauer?
First of all, it would be hard for anyone to fill Grubuaer’s shoes. The Vezina finalist had an amazing season earlier this year, with 30 wins and 9 losses in 40 games, seven shutouts, a save percentage of .922, and a GAA of 1.95, all personal bests since joining the Avalanche. In contrast, Darcy Kuemper played 27 games, with 10 wins and 11 losses, 2 shutouts, a save percentage of .907, and a GAA of 2.56. Quite a bit different than Grubauer’s season last year.
Now, there’s always the chance that being on a new team will bring Kuemper more luck, and he’ll have a better season this year than last year. At any rate, he’ll be relied on quite a lot more than he was on the Coyotes, with Pavel Francouz only just coming back from surgery and missing all of last year. He’ll be starting most games, most likely, and will be relied on by the team just as much as they relied on Grubuaer.
The fact of the matter is that Kuemper is no Grubauer, and that’s going to take some getting used to for the team. They relied heavily on the goaltending that Grubauer provided, and many times the goaltending was the reason they won as many games as they did. Kuemper is going to have to work hard to be the starting goalie that the Avs need.
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I have my doubts that Kuemper will be able to fill the hole left by Grubauer as easily as some might think. It’s hard to replace a Vezina finalist, and it’s going to be hard to be on a team where goaltending is so important. However, maybe with time he’ll prove me wrong and he’ll be exactly what the Avalanche need to work on their game and not rely so heavily on the goaltending.