Better late than never. It looks as though Darcy Kuemper is ready to go for the Arizona Coyotes, and we might see him as soon as Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers.
The Arizona Coyotes called up goalie Darcy Kuemper from his conditioning stint with the Tucson Roadrunners on Sunday, and now it is time to see what he is made of. Kuemper made 26 saves on 28 shots for the Roadrunners on Saturday night, and now he is ready to go in the NHL.
Hopefully, we will see the Darcy Kuemper we saw in December who was named to the NHL All-Star team if now Antti Raanta has been just as good all season. The injury drama with Darcy Kuemper has been interesting to follow, to say the least.
For a while, we thought he was day to day, and then all of a sudden the Coyotes place Kuemper on injury reserved, then we find out he is not going to play in the All-Star Game, and the hits just kept on coming.
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Something that was just reported as a day to day minor injury in December turned into an injury that kept Kuemper out till the last week in February. I hope he is alright and is ready to go because this team needs him.
I think it is important to remember that Kuemper is not going to be able to help this team score goals. We saw Antti Raanta play the best performance of his career against the St. Louis Blues a few nights ago, and the team still lost. It is not going to matter that Darcy Kuemper came back from an injury if this team does not start putting the puck in the back of the net.
The Coyotes next game is against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, while I could see the team putting Kuemper in the net, I think the more likely option is Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres at home. This would give Kuemper a little more time to get comfortable in his own net back with the team, and would allow the coaching staff to make sure he is truly at 100%.