Coyotes G Darcy Kuemper selected as an NHL All-Star
Dec 30, 2019, 1:46 PM | Updated: Jan 1, 2020, 1:02 pm
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Arizona Coyotes starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper was selected to the NHL All-Star’s Pacific Division team, the Coyotes announced on Monday.
Kuemper is injured, so it’s possible he may not be healthy by the time the All-Star weekend takes place on Jan. 24 and 25.
“It’s super exciting,” Kuemper said. “Obviously a huge honor to get a chance to go out there and represent the team and play with some of the top players in the league, I’m quite excited for it.”
Kuemper has a .929 save percentage in 25 starts this year, which is the best save percentage in the NHL among goalies with 20 or more appearances. He also owns a 2.17 goals against average, which is the best in the NHL among goalies with 16 or more starts. Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry has a better goals against average and save percentage, but in 10 fewer starts and eight fewer games played.
His .923 SV% with the Coyotes is tied for the best in franchise history with Antti Raanta.
The 29-year-old Kuemper becomes the fourth goalie in Coyotes history to be named an All-Star, joining Nikolai Khabibulin, Sean Burke and Mike Smith.
Last year’s Coyotes All-Star was Clayton Keller, and before that were Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2018) and Mike Smith (2017).
This is Kuemper’s first career All-Star appearance. Keller is the Coyotes’ representative on the “Last Men In” ballot, which allows fans to vote in one more player for each divisional team.
The NHL All-Star weekend includes a skills competition, and some of the skills games feature goaltenders. Then, the All-Star “game” itself is actually a series of games, consisting of four teams (one from each division) playing in a 3-on-3 round-robin tournament.
Comments