Darcy Kuemper shares the awkward place he was when he found out he was traded

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Josh Tupper
June 22, 2024 (9:47 PM)

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Darcy Kuemper, the former goalie for the Washington Capitals, recently told a hilarious anecdote about how he learned that he was joining the Los Angeles Kings.

This week, the Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings collaborated to finalize a fairly important transaction. Goalie Darcy Kuemper, who played 19 games for Los Angeles in the 2018�19 season, was traded to Washington for winger Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Each squad received the desired parts. Even if Dubois had a difficult first and only season in Los Angeles, he is still a 50-point scorer in the NHL and may have some success with Alexander Ovechkin in the upcoming campaign.

The Kings, however, desperately needed assistance in between the pipes. The Kings gave up an astounding 22 goals in a five-game loss in their first round series against the Edmonton Oilers. Rob Blake took care of that requirement ahead of time by purchasing Kuemper, since their starter from the 2023�24 season, Cam Talbot, is set to hit free agency on July 1.

In a recent interview, Kuemper shared that he found out about his trade to the Los Angeles Kings while he was in the shower. Kuemper says his wife came in to tell him about the trade.

"I think we got traded" Kuemper's wife told him.

Kuemper said he had success working with Los Angeles Kings Director of Goaltending Bill Ranford and his crew, and he is eager to return to the team. He hopes to start the 2024�25 season with a win for the team right away.

""It was tough to have it be so short because of how much I enjoyed the organization, living there, playing with the guys," Kuemper said on Friday. "So, I'm excited to be back. I had a lot of success with Bill Ranford and the goalie staff. I'm looking forward to getting back to work with them, joining the team and helping us get wins."

It will be interesting to watch how the goalkeeper market changes as we approach the draft and free agency, given two starting goaltenders have already moved in the past week (Markstrom to New Jersey and Kuemper to Los Angeles). Two names to watch are Juuse Saros of Nashville and Linus Ullmark of Boston.

Source: ESPN
Darcy Kuemper on return to Kings: 'Excited to be back'