On the back of two straight shutouts, the “exceptional” Darcy Kuemper has been a rock for a surging Kings team

No matter what you expected from Darcy Kuemper coming into this season, even the most optimistic outlook might not have even predicted this.

Ask Jim Hiller, even.

Hiller was a Kuemper fan coming in, as I think many were here in Los Angeles. His trade acquisition was exciting internally for a couple of reasons, with the optimism surrounding a goaltender who everyone believed fit the system the Kings played and a player who would return to form, showing that 2023-24 was the outlier, not the new norm.

Still, though. What Kuemper has done has been nothing short of whatever synonym for really good you'd like to use.

"I'll be honest with you, I thought he would give us solid goaltending, but he's had an exceptional season so far," Hiller said. "I don't know if anybody could have saw this coming, he's been great."

Exceptional, indeed.

Using 35 games as a cutoff, Kuemper ranks second in the NHL in goals-against average and tied for second in save percentage, in all situations.

Per Natural Stat Trick, Kuemper has more than 16 goals saved above average, with more than nine of those coming in high-danger situations. Among goaltenders with at least 30 games played this season, Kuemper ranks in the Top-5 in the NHL in both categories. In penalty-killing situations specifically, Kuemper has stopped more than eight goals above average and currently ranks number one in the NHL in high-danger goals saved above average when his team is shorthanded.

They say the goaltender needs to be a team's best penalty killer. Pretty safe to say that's been the case for a Kings team that killed 16 consecutive penalties over their recent homestand.

As we think about Kuemper’s season, you have to start wondering perhaps on an individual note, just a little bit. Is this a goaltender who should have his name in the Vezina conversation around the NHL? Certainly feels like he should, especially as he comes of consecutive shutouts, allowing just one goal in total over his last three starts. While he missed time twice earlier in the season, on small occasions, since he's returned to the lineup on December 7, Kuemper has been among the league's best goaltenders.

“There's way to look at that and say, that’s a season he's put together here and I don't know where the other guys stand, as far as comparable statistics, but he's had a really good season so far," Hiller added.

As you go around the NHL, the Vezina seems to be heading North, pretty much regardless of what happens over the final month or so of the season. Connor Hellebuyck seems to be not just in the conversation to be selected as the league’s best goaltender but perhaps the league’s most-valuable player, tending the crease for the league-leading Winnipeg Jets with the NHL’s best save percentage. And that's fine.

Three goaltenders get nominated, though, and you never know what could happen here over the stretch run to change the perception at the top. And, as you look at the goaltenders atop the NHL in a few different areas, Kuemper and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy seem to be surfacing in a number of different ways to join Hellebuyck as those selected.

Starting with save percentage, those three occupy the top three spots in the NHL. Same goes for goals-against average. Same goes for shutouts. In terms of goals saved above average, diving deeper into the metrics, those three have three of the top four spots in the rankings. High-danger save percentage? All three are in the top five.

Seems like a trend, doesn’t it?

While Hellebuyck will be the public favorite and rightfully so, let’s give Kuemper his due here. Over the summer, his acquisition felt like a bit of a contract for contract swap, as much as it was player for player. The Kings were excited about Kuemper, certainly, and they needed a solution between the pipes but they also wanted to move on from Pierre-Luc Dubois and that required a larger contract coming back, which was Kuemper, who was coming off a down season.

As Hiller said, you probably couldn’t have predicted that things would work out this well, even if you, like me, believed that Kuemper would solidify the net for the Kings. When something happens season-over-season, and then abruptly goes the other way once, it's either the start of a new trend or an aberration. Pretty clear that, for Kuemper, he's back to the goaltender he's been since he originally left Los Angeles back in 2018, if not even better.

In doing so, each and every night, seemingly, Kuemper has kept the Kings in the game. Sounds simple. Goaltending Coach Mike Buckley has described Kuemper as a goaltender who thrives on "instincts", rather than overthinking situations. Right now, the instincts have been pretty darn good.

“Anytime you have a goalie that's feeling good and playing good, you feel confident in front of him to maybe make a few more plays, be engaged,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said of Kuemper. “You know if something maybe goes South that he's got your got your back to fix it.”

For Anderson, he’s always a player who is probably more cognizant to those situations as a defenseman and he’s a defensive-first player to begin with.

The forwards are feeling it too, though. Having Kuemper in the lineup makes them feel more confident. It makes them feel more willing to try and make plays. It’s not risk for the sake of risk, but when you have a goaltender playing as well as Kuemper

“It's been every game this season, when you know he's back there, you have a little bit more confidence to make plays,” forward Quinton Byfield said. “He's always been massive back there on the penalty kill, he's been unreal. Every situation he gets, he finds a way to make the save.”

Kuemper, ever humble, was quick to throw it back to the players in front of him.

"It's fun when things are going well and I'm very fortunate with how the team is playing in front of me, making my job as easy as possible," Kuemper said. "It takes 20 guys all night and that's been our MO all year. We just want to be there for each other."

Spoken like a true hockey player, isn't it?

Thankfully, while Kuemper isn't one to take the accolades, his teammates have been more than willing to dish them out his way.

Perhaps it was forward Kevin Fiala who ultimately put it best, in a simple way.

“He’s just been unbelievable for us all season.”

Couldn’t agree more.

The Kings will need Kuemper's strong play to continue. In the midst of a race that has shifted from securing a playoff spot to battling for home-ice advantage in Round 1, or even perhaps competing for a division title, Kuemper's play is an important part in that. You want further proof how important getting in those top two seeds could be? The last time Kuemper lost a game in regulation at Crypto.com Arena was November 7. It's the only games he's lost in regulation in that building this season, with just one overtime loss in the middle of then and now. A trip to face another former club, the Minnesota Wild, awaits tomorrow, with two more big points on the line. Expecting Kuemper in the net once again, hopefully continuing to do what he does.