Darcy Kuemper has played hardly any hockey in 2020. The Arizona Coyotes goalie missed two months with a lower-body injury, and four games into his return, the NHL paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
But he expects to be sharp when the Coyotes play the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
He returned to Gila River Arena this week for voluntary, limited small-group workouts under Phase 2 of the Return to Play Plan. Training camps will open July 10 in Phase 3, provided health and safety conditions allow and the NHL and the NHL Players' Association reach an agreement on resuming play.
"I think as long as you do the right things, I think we've got enough time now," Kuemper said Thursday. "We've got three weeks before training camp starts, and we're not sure how long that's going to be, but you'll get good opportunity to get good reps in there."
Before his injury, Kuemper was establishing himself as a candidate for the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL, and the Hart Trophy as the League's most valuable player. He was 15-7-2 with a 1.97 goals-against average and .935 save percentage before Dec. 19, when he allowed seven goals on 32 shots and was helped off the ice with 3:08 left in an 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
After his return, he went 1-3-0 with a 2.55 GAA and .924 save percentage.
Kuemper stayed in Arizona during the pause, working on hand-eye coordination with tennis-ball drills and focusing on conditioning.
"I think the main focus, for me, anyways, was just to stay in as good of shape as possible and make conditioning a non-issue, so that when you're out there, you're not trying to get back in shape," he said. "You're just trying to get your game back, rather than trying to conquer both at the same time, so I feel like I did a good job of that, so I can just focus on technique and dialing back in my game."
The workouts this week have been unusual in some respects. Kuemper said masks and gloves are available as soon as players walk into the arena, and there are more stationed in spots where players might remove them. In the gym, equipment is taped off, so each player has his own space. Everything is sprayed and wiped down with disinfectant.
"I knew they would do a great job," Kuemper said. "But they kind of went above and beyond my expectations, and I feel very safe there."
But in other respects, the workouts are similar to what players undergo in the summer to prepare for training camp.
"You get out there for the first time in a couple months, you kind of have to reteach yourself how to play goalie," Kuemper said. "But it comes back quick. By the end of the first ice time, I was feeling pretty normal. … My goal right now is just to get to the point where I can go all out in training camp and get up to full game speed, and from a couple weeks of that, I'll be ready to go."
Kuemper expects training camp to be all business because of the situation.
Play will resume with the qualifiers, with dates and the locations of two hub cities -- one for 12 Western Conference teams, one for 12 Eastern Conference teams -- to be announced. The top four teams in each conference will play a three-game round robin for seeding, while the others will play best-of-5 series to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Coyotes (33-29-8) were 11th in the West with a .529 points percentage; the Predators (35-26-8) were sixth with a .565 points percentage.
"I think there's going to be a huge advantage, especially early, to the teams that really take advantage of this time in Phase 2 and they're ready for a really focused, solid training camp," Kuemper said. "I think that's going to give you a little bit of a jump. So definitely the teams that do a great job of preparing and being ready for the first game are going to have a head start on everyone."
Kuemper said he was thinking the other day about how different it would be to play without fans in the stands, but the Coyotes, who haven't made the playoffs since 2011-12, must take advantage of the 24-team tournament for the Stanley Cup.
"In a way, it kind of brings the game back to its rawest form," he said. "It's just one team versus the other, no distractions, nothing else going on. So I think it's just about embracing the situation, and the team that can rally together and just put everything aside and just focus on what's important and go out and play is going to have the advantage. It'll be different, but it's a new challenge, and I think it'll be a lot of fun."
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