New face finally makes an appearance ahead of Washington Capitals training camp
With training camps set to open next week. Players are beginning to arrive in their cities and showing up for informal skates.
The Caps' number one goaltender Darcy Kuemper hit the ice as a member of the team, for the first time at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
The Capitals signed the 2022 Stanley Cup Champion netminder to a five-year, $26.25 million deal on the 1st day of Free Agency, July 13th. The team was in dire need of a new face in net as they had already traded Vitek Vanecek to the New Jersey Devils and chose to not extend a qualifying offer to Ilya Samsonov.
Kuemper, in 57 starts for the Western Conference-best Avalanche in 2021-22, went 37-12-4 with a .921 save percentage, 2.54 goals-against average, and five shutouts. When the calendar flipped to 2022, Kuemper played some of the best hockey of his career, second only to Igor Shesterkin in save percentage and fourth in high-danger save percentage only to Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin, and Jake Oettinger.
Monday's skate allowed Kuemper to debut his new mask, designed by longtime mask designer David Gunnarsson.
His first Capitals mask features the red, white, and blue color scheme that the team currently sports home and away. The Screaming Eagle from the team's uniforms in the mid-90s and Reverse Retro fame is prevalent on top of the lid. Kuemper's number 35 is joined on the chin of the mask by the Capitals wordmark logo that runs all the way up both sides of the jaw.
He will be joined by another new face in Charlie Lindgren as the new goaltending tandem in town. The Athletic's Tarik El-Bashir reported that Lindgren has already been skating with the team since last week.
Training Camp officially opens for the Capitals on September 22nd.
| POLL | ||
How many wins will Darcy Kuemper have next season with his new team? | ||
| Less than 30 wins | 24 | 23.1 % |
| Between 30-35 | 47 | 45.2 % |
| Between 20-25 | 17 | 16.3 % |
| Wins 35 + games | 16 | 15.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
