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Minnesota Wild: Top 10 Goalies in Franchise History

By Cody Defoe

ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 17: John Curry #33 of the Minnesota Wild warms up prior to the game against the Boston Bruins on December 17, 2014 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 17: John Curry #33 of the Minnesota Wild warms up prior to the game against the Boston Bruins on December 17, 2014 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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ST. PAUL, MN – FEBRUARY 16: Darcy Kuemper #35 of the Minnesota Wild warms up prior to the game against the Dallas Stars on February 16, 2017 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /

#8 – Darcy Kuemper (2012-2017)

Darcy Kuemper was a late round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild in the 2009 Draft. Kuemper excelled in his Junior Career, and continued his run of impressive goaltending into Houston of the AHL.

Despite impressing at every level outside the NHL, Darcy never seemed to gain the full trust of the coaches in Minnesota. He was stuck as the 3rd goaltender behind Backstrom and Harding to start his career, and whenever the crease fell to be his responsibility due to injuries the team found alternatives through trades.

In 2013-14, Backstrom and Harding both went down with injury and Kuemper was the de facto starter. Trust in the young goalie was extremly low, and despite winning 5 games in a row after Backstrom’s injury the team still sought out a replacement to lead them into the playoffs.

Kuemper’s legacy will stand as the 2014 playoff run, where he took the net back after Brygalov struggled in the opening series and led the Wild back from a 2-0 series deficit, putting them in a position to win Game 7 before a leg injury forced him out for the remainder of the playoffs.

The 2014-15 season was meant to be the year of Kuemper, Harding was struggling with his MS treatments, and Backstrom’s game was showing his age. Despite this, Darcy still could not earn the patience of his coach, only playing more than 3 consecutive games twice over the entire season.

His spot would be lost to Devan Dubnyk in January, and he would spend 2 more seasons as primary backup to Dubnyk before leaving in free agency when his contract expired.

Kuemper’s timing was unfortunate, as he got stuck deep in the goalie depth chart and when he finally found his way to the top he was faced with a coach desperate for wins with no patience for a young goalie trying to gain confidence in the NHL

This season, Kuemper will find himself as backup goalie in Arizona waiting for another chance to try to prove he can become a starting goalie in the NHL. His time in Minnesota proved he can win, when he has confidence in his game, but he was never able to spend enough time on-ice to secure his spot at the top.

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