The other member of the Kings’ goaltending tandem is Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper entered the 2025-26 season coming off one of the best performances in his NHL career, as he earned a Vezina nomination for his bounce-back campaign in Los Angeles. Despite a strong start, Kuemper’s season was derailed after a midseason injury and never seemed to get back on track, compounded by a trip to Milan for the Olympics. A look at Kuemper’s second season back with the Kings below.
Darcy Kuemper
NHL Statline – 50 games played, 2032 minutes played, 19-14-15 record, 2.78 goals against average, .891 save percentage, 3 shutouts
Let’s start with a comparison here, because I think it’s the one that is on everyone’s minds.
Goaltender A – 10-6-6 record, .917 save percentage, 2.19 goals-against average. 10.72 goals-saved above average.
Goaltender B – 9-8-9 record, .868 save percentage, 3.30 goals-against average. Minus-15.87 goals-saved above average.
Goaltender A is Darcy Kuemper’s 2025-26 statline before he was injured in Dallas on December 15. Goaltender B is Kuemper’s statline from when he returned through the end of the regular season. Will dive into both below, along with a few other takeaways from Kuemper’s season.
Trending Up – Goaltender A! Goaltender A is not all that far removed from the numbers that saw Kuemper in the Vezina conversation in 2024-25. The save percentage is a tick lower and the goals-against average is a tick higher, but not by an outlandish margin. Up until that game in Dallas, Kuemper ranked fifth in the NHL in goals saved above average, per Natural Stat Trick. Kuemper was tied for fifth in save percentage and was a solo fifth in goals-against average, when comparing goaltenders with double-digit appearances. Simply put. Over the first two months of the season, while healthy, Kuemper was among the NHL’s better goaltenders when you look at what the numbers are telling us. Until that play in Dallas, Kuemper’s season was right on track with what the Kings needed from him and you wonder what might have happened had that moment been avoided.
Kuemper was also one of the best goaltenders in high-danger situations this season. Of the 27 goaltenders to play at least 2,000 minutes 5-on-5 this season, Kuemper was one of six with a high-danger goals-against average below 1.00. He also ranked eighth in that group in high-danger save percentage at .846. The Kings, as a whole, defend that area of the ice quite well, as Kuemper faced the sixth-fewest high-danger chances of that group. That makes his numbers that much more impressive, though, because it’s not a volume play.
Lastly, Kuemper made Team Canada for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. He did not play at the tournament, serving in a veteran, number-three role on the team, but that he was one of three goaltenders selected to the team was a recognition of his play last season and over the first couple months of this season. Kuemper and his teammates won a silver medal and that’s a heck of an accomplishment, showing how far Kuemper rose up the depth chart in 18 months.
Trending Down – Goaltender B. The numbers above for Goaltender A painted the picture of a goaltender who ranked inside the NHL’s Top-5 in several categories early in the season. However, after Kuemper returned from injury, he ranked 55th in goals-against average and 59th in save percentage, among the 66 goaltenders to appear in 10 games. His goals saved above average, per Natural Stat Trick, was the fourth-worst mark in the NHL during that span. When asked in his exit interview, Kuemper did not use that moment in Dallas as an excuse. So, how was he truly feeling coming out of that, I suppose we’ll never know. However, the numbers are the numbers and Kuemper struggled to replicate his start to the season over the final four months of play. His metrics down the stretch were that of a below-par backup, a far cry from who he was last season and up until that moment.
I think the biggest segment to pull here is the stretch run. Anton Forsberg’s surge and late-season play was among the biggest reasons why the Kings made the playoffs and they should have been quicker to give him more action. Kuemper’s struggles were under the largest spotlight down the stretch, as the Kings lost six of his final eight starts in the regular season. Of the two wins, one was a 7-6 victory over Toronto, in which Kuemper allowed all six of the goals against. He was on the hook for at least four goals against in five of those eight games. I understood wanting to try and get Kuemper going again, because he was so strong down the stretch in 2024-25. However, he never found that groove and the Kings dropped several points along the way and Kuemper’s play in net was part of the reason as to why.
Lastly, this is something that was in Forsberg’s review as well and that’s the penalty kill. I’ll pose the same question – how much of the penalty-killing struggles the Kings had this season do you put on the goaltenders? 72 goaltenders this season were on the ice for at least 50 shorthanded minutes and Kuemper ranked 61st with a .815 save percentage, which is a touch below Forsberg’s number. Not terribly off, but a bit lower. Per Natural Stat Trick, his minus-7.08 goals saved above expected was the fifth-lowest mark in the NHL. The blame for the Kings penalty-killing woes is not on any one individual. However, it was a poor showing overall and as is the case with several others, Kuemper picks up his share here.
2026-27 Status – Similar to Forsberg, Kuemper is under contract for one more season, through 2027. I think it’s fair to wonder about what his future with the Kings is and his exit interview certainly didn’t offer a ton of clarity. Ken Holland said that Kuemper was unhappy with how his season ended and that he expressed a desire to come back stronger in 2026-27. As of now, I’d consider the net to be up for grabs during camp, between Kuemper and Forsberg. Until anything changes on a personnel front, that’ll be the case entering training camp in the fall.
