Quoting: rollie1967
Kuemper had good numbers last year, it would be a stretch to say hes a proven #1. The fact they already have Raanta signed is an issue. The idea that a tandem works where the work and salary is split close to 50/50 has not been proven(starters have lost their jobs to up and comers- but they werent paid like starters, nor expected to split duties). It didnt work with Dallas (Lehtonen/Niemi), NYI (Greiss/Halak/then Lehner) nor the multiple times the Flyers and Blues have tried it. While the cap hit for goalies for Arizona is only 6.8 this year- it jumps to 9.4 next year, if it was affective this season- that would put them #2 (behind Boston-9.75m) in goalie costs among the top cup contenders ( Bos. Dall . Vegas, TBay, Wash, Colo, Tor, St.L, Pit) .
If they were to move Raanta, or figured he was to spend most if not all season on the LTIR- then this would be an ok back-up plan (pun intended). They do have two good prospects in net: Adin Hill and Ivan Prosvetov ( a few years away for Ivan).
"sir, this is a Wendy's."
jokes aside, one seems to be conveniently forgetting the facts that:
a) the Islanders made the playoffs at all due to Greiss and Lehner's goaltending, when noooooobody expected them to, and also in spite of their 223 goals for over the season, more than 20 below league average;
b) the Bruins, oh, I dunno, made the playoffs and the Stanley Cup Finals in the first place because Halák's goaltending was good enough in a tandem role to get the Bruins through Rask's slumps, thus not working Rask nearly as hard as compared to if he had played 60+ games and giving him enough gas in the tank to carry the Bruins through the playoffs.
sure, Rask and Halák aren't paid close to the same, but that's more due to the paradigm of paying goaltenders that still exists and hasn't really changed yet across the league.