The Arizona Coyotes traded goaltender Darcy Kuemper to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday in exchange for a 2022 first-round draft pick, a conditional 2024 third-round pick and defenseman Conor Timmins.
Multiple reports said the Coyotes would pay $1 million of Kuemper’s $4.5 million salary-cap hit as part of the deal.
Kuemper, 31, went 10-11-3 for Arizona in 2020-21 with a 2.56 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, he is 53-42-13 with a 2.35 GAA and a .922 save percentage, causing him to be seen around the NHL as a No. 1 goalie.
That’s exactly what the Avs needed after their former starting goalie, Philipp Grubauer, left Wednesday to sign a six-year, $35.4 million deal with the expansion Seattle Kraken.
Kuemper finished fifth in Vezina Trophy voting in 2019 and seventh in 2020. In nine seasons with the Minnesota Wild (2012-13 to 2016-17), Los Angeles Kings (2017-18) and Arizona (2017-18 to 2020-21), the Canadian is 106-83-32 in 242 games (225 starts) with a 2.47 GAA and a .917 save percentage.
Colorado is looking to break through after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in the abbreviated 2020-21 regular season but losing in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Timmins, a second-round draft pick by Colorado in 2017, played in 31 games last season and recorded seven assists. He began his NHL career by playing two games in the 2019-20 season.
–Field Level Media