New Jersey Devils: Team Must Wait For Cory Schneider To Be Fully Healthy
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils are desperate for their starting goalie to return after another ho-hum performance in net. The team needs to fight those urges and wait for Cory Schneider to be fully healthy.
Keith Kinkaid has not been very good since he took over the starting job for an injured Cory Schneider. While he has been able to string a few wins together, he just hasn’t been able to stay consistent.
Schneider went down on January 23rd. Since then, the Devils are 7-6. There were some good defensive performances, including allowing just one goal to the Pittsburgh Penguins and keeping the surging Carolina Hurricanes to two twice. The doom and gloom never really materialized, and the team has been able to survive with Kinkaid, Ken Appleby and Eddie Lack.
However, while the team was able to survive, last night showed how much the Devils miss Schneider. Kinkaid has had an off season, similar to what we saw from Cory last season. At times, he’s made incredible saves, but more often than not, he’s let in some softies.
Despite the below-average play in net, the Devils cannot rush Schneider back. He’s dealing with a groin injury, which is very easy to re-aggravate if you’re not careful. Forcing Schneider to come back early in February could really affect the team come March.
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The Devils desperately need the best possible Schneider once he returns. If the team gets the goalie from the start of this season, it’s almost a lock they make the postseason. If they get the player who’s off his game, then it will be an uphill battle.
This isn’t a typical injury for a goalie. This is the most important aspect of a goalie’s game. Losing mobility down low will end a goaltender’s game, especially on the Devils. I don’t know if there are advanced statistics for this, but it seems like the Devils allow more two-on-ones than any other team. We need our goalie to have optimal abilities to try and stop those chances.
The Devils will survive if Scheider is out for another week or two. They won’t survive if Cory comes back and isn’t the same, or worse, gets injured again. Just wait it out until the goalie is fully healthy.