Goalie Darcy Kuemper is doing all he can to persuade the Avalanche that they don’t need to make an effort to acquire Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury.

In the past month, Kuemper has upped his save percentage to .918 and dropped his goals-against average to 2.45. The league average for save percentage and GAA are .909 and 2.83 thus far this season.

Kuemper’s numbers are at least similar to Jack Campbell’s numbers in Toronto (.921 and 2.39) and not far off from Nashville’s Juuse Saros (.925 and 2.43).

Fan bases are pleased with Campbell and Saros and yet it seems as if Colorado fans are nervous about Kuemper. His injury history certainly has something to do with that.

During Kuemper’s recent run of success, he beat Dallas, Tampa Bay, Boston and Los Angeles. He gave up only one goal in half of a game against Minnesota.

In his last nine appearances, Kuemper has stopped 240 of 252 shots for a .952 save percentage. He was at .917 or above in all but one of those games.

Thanks to Kuemper’s play of late, the Avalanche team save percentage is now at .912. The Avalanche are tied with the Florida Panthers and no one expects expects Bill Zito to trade for a goalie

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s team percentage is at .913. Reasonably certain Lightning are not worried about their goaltending.

The 6-foot-5 Kuemper has been the goalie that the Avalanche hoped he would be when they acquired him. He’s been the goalie who used to keep the Arizona Coyotes in many games when they should not have been competitive.

If the Avalanche have confidence that Kuemper can give them strong playoff goaltending, this could open up their options for trade deadline acquisitions.

Fleury is a $7 million cap hit and will cost some team a first-round pick and at least one other asset. If the Avalanche aren’t chasing Fleury, they probably can pursue Claude Giroux or one of the other difference-makers up front or an upgrade on defense.

The argument before was the Avalanche are so talent-laden that general manager Joe Sakic shouldn’t risk letting them fail because of inadequate goaltending. If the Avs believe in Kuemper, maybe the argument is the Avalanche are so talent-laden that they should push their chips all in to make sure their defense is as strong as their offense.

Maybe their objective should be Montreal defenseman Ben Chiarot, once he comes off the injured list. He might be able to help them even more than Fleury

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