No. 3: Darcy Kuemper (Goaltender)
After helping the Colorado Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup championship in 21 years, Kuemper is going to be a hot-commodity this offseason.
Over the past few years, before he ended up in Colorado, Kuemper was a name that was tied to Toronto, a lot. At $4.5M AAV, there was a ton of value with Kuemper as he always seemed to have the skill to be great, but was unfortunately stuck in a bad spot with Arizona.
At 6-foot-5, Kuemper’s size is a huge advantage and that was on full-display during the regular season and Stanley Cup Finals. The Avalanche proved that they didn’t need a $10M superstar goalie, but could do it with an average pay-check on a value contract.
It’ll be interesting to see what Kuemper’s AAV will start with next year, but if he still wants to win and the Toronto Maple Leafs can unload the Petr Mrazek contract, he may be a viable option for them.
Even at $6-7M per season, Toronto can make Kuemper’s contract work, and they should jump on the opportunity after the performance he just gave during the Stanley Cup Finals.