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Toronto Maple Leafs Shouldn’t Spend Big on Darcy Kuemper

By James Tanner

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 19: Goaltender Darcy Kuemper #35 of the Arizona Coyotes in action during the second period of the NHL game against the Minnesota Wild at Gila River Arena on December 19, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 19: Goaltender Darcy Kuemper #35 of the Arizona Coyotes in action during the second period of the NHL game against the Minnesota Wild at Gila River Arena on December 19, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs want to bring in a goalie to back-up Jack Campbell.

This is a sensible thing for the Toronto Maple Leafs to do, because Campbell only has a short track record of success in the NHL and has shown that he can be pretty injury prone.

And while goalie is the single most important position in the game of hockey, it’s important to keep in mind that predicting goalie performance is not possible.

Therefore it doesn’t ever make sense to spend big money, a high draft pick, or assets in a trade to get one. If you knew what you’d get, then the cost would always be worth it due to how important goalies are.

But since you don’t, it would be better to acquire multiple options cheaply and see how plays well.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Darcy Kuemper

With that being said, the Toronto Maple Leafs should still pursue Kuemper, but only if the cost is low.  It doesn’t sound like it is.

If Arizona took back half Kuempers salary, and the cost wasn’t very high in terms of prospects and picks, I’d love it if the Leafs got Kuemper, since he’s shown the ability to be very good in the NHL.

This past year, however, Kuemper was among the worst starters in hockey.  He played just 27 games and had only a .907 while Campbell, one of the NHL’s best this year, posted a .934.  Kuemper, in the previous two seasons, was among the best in the league.

Like most goalies, he has been up and down.  He has also never been healthy enough to play over 55 games in a year.  He is a pending UFA and 31 years old.  The Leafs shouldn’t pay more than a token low draft pick, and maybe a longshot prospect.  Anything else would be too risky.

A much better choice might be Antti Raanta.  He is just as injury prone, just as good, and the exact same age as Keumper.  But he is a UFA and wouldn’t cost any assets to acquire.  It might, however, be harder to get him to for the same cap-hit as you could get Kuemper for (assuming Arizona would retain half of it).

Next. Grading the Leafs Draft Picks This Weekend. dark

In my opinion, the Toronto Maple Leafs should try to target someone younger and less established who they can get on a bargain, and then use the savings to add a top line forward.  In a league where the best goalie every year is usually some random guy no one ever heard of before,  there just isn’t any point in spending assets on a goalie.

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