How much can Darcy Kuemper impact Coyotes’ playoff chase?
Darcy Kuemper is back, but will his impact on the Coyotes be great enough to propel them into the playoffs for the first time since 2012?
For starters, it’s probably unfair to pin that sort of responsibility on any one player. Still, the Coyotes are in need of a big run in the final weeks of the season if they hope to end the team’s playoff drought.
Kuemper was scheduled to make his first start since Dec. 19 on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers at Gila River Arena. That will mean Kuemper, who up until his injury was perhaps the Coyotes’ best player, will have missed more than two months of action and more than a quarter of the 2019-20 season.
“It’s been a long road,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters at Tuesday’s morning skate. “He’s been our best player for a year and a half. We get our best player back and it strengthens our goaltending.”
The Coyotes are just 11-14-4 since Kuemper’s injury, casting their playoffhopeful season into significant doubt. Although Arizona enters play occupying the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, they have played more games than every team around them.
Over the next few weeks, while the Coyotes’ schedule begins to slow down, they will be forced to watch their conference rivals play games and possibly gain ground. By then, the Coyotes could be on the outside looking in.
Often times, the greatest casualty in an unfriendly schedule is the goaltender. In the Coyotes’ case, however, Kuemper was not present for the gauntlet. It was Antti Raanta who had to take the brunt of it, with the help of some commendable performances from third-stringer Adin Hill.
Raanta, by and large, has handled it quite well. He ran into some injury problems of his own, but has found his groove to the tune of a .944 save percentage and 1.89 goals against average (GAA) in February, the best such marks among goaltenders who have made at least nine appearances this month.
Raanta’s heroics couldn’t have come at a better time for the Coyotes, who are producing just 2.58 goals per game in February, a mark that ranks 24th out of 31 teams.
“‘Raants’ has got his mojo for sure,” Tocchet said. “He’s got his mojo back. We have some practice time, which is nice. We’re not dead. There are still games to get back in this thing.”
Kuemper’s return will afford some deserved rest for Raanta, who along with his wife, Anna, just welcomed their second child, a boy, Lukas, on Monday.
Kuemper had posted a 15-8-2 record to go along with a 2.17 GAA and a .929 save percentage in 25 games, marks that put him on the short list to win the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the league’s top goaltender, at season’s end.
Raanta, too, seemed to thrive in a tandem role with Kuemper. While the Coyotes may not get much improved goaltending from what Raanta has given them in February, the addition of Kuemper may allow for more consistent stretches of proficient goaltending between the two given that both Kuemper and Raanta could remain fresh.
Tocchet said there’s also something to be said for the team’s mental approach in seeing Kuemper back in the crease.
“Confidence, definitely,” Tocchet said. “You see big number 35 back there. It’s almost like making a trade at the deadline. We’ve got our starting goalie back.”