The Los Angeles Kings were one of the best teams in the Western Conference this season and Darcy Kuemper was a big reason for that. However, it would be hard to tell based on how the voting for the Vezina Trophy, the award given to the best goaltender that season, ended up playing out.
Connor Hellebuyck, the Winnipeg Jets' goalie, would end up winning the award and it would be the third time winning it and second consecutive year. Hellebuyck has been excellent for the Jets and was certainly deserving, as he would also win the Hart Trophy.
However, in terms of performance this season, Kuemper was on the same level as Hellebuyck but somehow finished third with only six second-place votes and 15 third-place votes for 33 total points, while the Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy finished second with 80 points.
LA Kings' Darcy Kuemper was the second-best goalie in hockey this past season
While Vasilevski had seven more wins than Darcy Kuemper, he did play in 13 more games and had nine more losses. As for Kuemper, he would help his team get at least a point in 76% of his starts, while Vasilevskiy secured a point in only 68% of his starts.
Kuemper also finished the season with a better goals against average (2.02) and save percentage (.922) and he finished behind only Hellebuyck in both stats among goalies with at least 50 starts.
Both goalies had excellent seasons and great resumes for why they should be in the discussion. However, it is hard to justify Kuemper not only finishing third but finishing so far behind Vasilevskiy in the voting.
The Kings brought back Kuemper last offseason after they traded with the Washington Capitals to have him replace Cam Talbot. He certainly filled the role well and delivered in big moments plenty of times for Los Angeles.
They will hope he can have a similar performance next season and if he does, hopefully he earns more votes for the Vezina Trophy than he got this season.