NHL Rumors: Capitals May Target Avalanche Goaltender

Colorado Avalanche free agent Darcy Kuemper is garnering a ton of interest from teams around the league and will surely have his choice if he hits the open market. One of the teams Elliott Friedman recently brought up was the Washington Capitals. They have what appears to be four years left to compete before they must rebuild. To get a goalie in his prime for those four years would be beneficial.

The Capitals have two restricted free agents in Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek who they haven't made a decision on. The goaltenders haven't made it easy on the Capitals to choose as they both have stretches where they play well and times they don't. Kuemper is now a proven goaltender in the playoffs after he's already proven year in and year out he is one of the best netminders in the NHL.

Of his 10 NHL seasons, he's only had a sub-.915 save percentage three times (.902, .905, .907). It wouldn't surprise me if the Capitals were able to land Kuemper and give him a payday, just to trade the rights of at least one of Samsonov or Vanecek to get a return that will help them win. Neither have proven to be a starting goaltender and even the 1a, 1b strategy hasn't worked for them lately.