Teams asking Wild about Kuemper
With the Carolina Hurricanes re-signing Cam Ward and the Toronto Maple Leafs acquiring and signing Frederik Andersen this week, the goaltending market is growing increasingly thin.
With that, teams have reached out to the Minnesota Wild to inquire about goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
"Darcy is a player that - I’ll be candid - some teams have asked us about,” general manager Chuck Fletcher said, according to Chad Graff of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
Despite the interest, though, Fletcher admits he's reticent to deal the 26-year-old especially with the team's history of injuries at the position.
"With our track record of injuries to our goaltenders, I’m a little hesitant to get aggressive in shopping him, is the best way to put it," Fletcher said. "I also want to be fair to Darcy. He’s been a real good goaltender, and a real good teammate, and clearly the net right now is Devan (Dubnyk's). If we have an opportunity to move him and get a fair return, we’ll look at it, but I don't want to be too aggressive in that regard and leave us short in that position.
"It’s such a very important position. We're comfortable if we can get the right return in moving him, but we’re also comfortable in having him come back, and work with Devan to form a great one-two punch. If that means he leaves us next summer, then that’s the price we pay. You just want to make sure you have enough depth in goal."
Kuemper - who posted a 2.43 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage last season in 21 games - will become a restricted free agent July 1.
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