Washington Capitals’ Darcy Kuemper day-to-day with upper-body injury

The Washington Capitals announced that goaltender Darcy Kuemper is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

INJURY UPDATE: #Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper is out for today’s game with an upper body injury. He is listed as day-to-day.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 19, 2023

It’s unclear as to what caused the injury, as Kuemper played the entirety of Friday’s game against the St. Louis Blues, so either he tweaked something during the game that was playable but is out now, or it occurred off the ice.

Kuemper allowed four goals on just 21 shots in that game against the Blues, digging the Caps into a 4-0 hole through two periods, and a late push only gave the Caps a couple goals as they lost the game 5-2.

Kuemper is having a solid season in Washington, with a 20-22-5 record, a .911 save percentage, and 10.53 5v5 goals saved above expected. His save percentage isn’t quite on par with his excellent career average of .917, but his 5v5 goals saved above expected show that that has more to do with the Capitals team in front of him than his individual performance.

Charlie Lindgren got the start on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild, while Zach Fucale served as the backup. Going into the game, Lindgren is 13-8-2 on the year with a .903 save percentage and a 0.28 5v5 goals saved above expected, while Fucale has a 19-10-2 record and an .899 save percentage in 33 games for the Hersey Bears in the AHL.

Kuemper was a sixth round pick for the Minnesota Wild in 2009, and has spent 11 seasons in the NHL with the Wild, Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, and now the Capitals. He’s currently in the first year of a five-year deal with a $5.25 million cap hit, one he signed with the Caps in free agency fresh off a Stanley Cup win with the Avalanche in 2022.

It’s yet another injury that the Capitals have had to deal with this season, including the current ones to John Carlson, Connor Brown, and Carl Hagelin. They currently sit five points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild card spot with a 33-30-7 record, although the Pens have two games in hand on them.