I am hoping this is the beginning of the end for the stalled contract talks. The Minnesota Wild can't afford to let Darcy Kuemper get away. Incidentally, Kuemper could have filed for arbitration in July but didn't.
Michael Russo, Star Tribune -- With training camp set to open next week, unsigned Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper is threatening to sign in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League if the Wild doesn’t sign him to a one-year, one-way contract, his agent said Monday.If the past is any indication of the future, Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding have had their share of health issues and neither goalie has been able to play a full season that last two season. You have to figure that Kuemper is going to be up with the big club sooner rather than later.
“Basically, Chuck and I are stuck,” agent Jeff Helperl said of negotiations with Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher. Fletcher did not comment on the negotiations.
Helperl wants a one-year deal where Kuemper would be paid his NHL salary whether he plays in Minnesota or with the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Des Moines. The Wild is offering a two-year deal where in the first year Kuemper would make a significantly lesser salary during the time he plays in Iowa.
“It comes down to Darcy has to play somewhere this year,” Helperl said of the KHL option. “Minnesota, they’re stuck on giving Darcy a two-way deal and I think Darcy deserves more. … By no means are we shooting for the moon at all. I just want to get a one-way contract and get Darcy playing more games, and wherever that’s going to be, it’s going to be.”
Helperl had a chance to file for arbitration July 5 but did not. That would have resulted in a neutral arbitrator awarding Kuemper, 24, a contract if one couldn’t be agreed upon prior.
I say trade him. I'm curious if they'd take Kuemper for Malcolm Subban? Or trade him to Philly for a high draft pick.
ReplyDeleteI know he's an up and comer and could be a good one, but he wants too much for too little time in the NHL. And it is better to trade him than let him walk to the KHL and back to some other team for nothing.