Darcy Kuemper has been there before.
Early Friday morning, Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet had an unexpected guest at his office deep in the bowels of Gila River Arena.
It was Kuemper, the man who had started each of the last 22 games in net for the Coyotes. He came to tell Tocchet he didn’t think he should start the team’s regular-season finale on Saturday.
Tocchet said Kuemper, a career backup prior to this season, lobbied for second-string goaltender Calvin Pickard to start the final game of the season.
“I thought that was a selfless act and I said ‘absolutely,’ Tocchet said.