New Jersey Devils Don’t Have A Goalie Battle

A tweet from the NHL Network asked the question about who should win the New Jersey Devils goalie battle. However, there is no battle to be won.

The New Jersey Devils don’t get a lot of talk on the nationally televised networks. This, despite having the NHL’s MVP on the team. Maybe it’s because they play in a city where three other teams play with 100 miles. It’s possibly because this year broke a five year playoff drought. So, when the NHL Network is talking about the Devils, we should be happy, right?

Well, unless it’s talking about this. The NHL Network talked about who the Devils should go with in net next season. Listen, I get it. It’s July. That means there isn’t much to talk about and you have to conjure up some stories. However, this is not a story.

For one, the Devils are starting the season with Keith Kinkaid. That’s because Cory Schneider had hip surgery that caused him to lose his job in the first place. Then, once Schneider is fully healthy, he will take over the job.

Schneider when healthy is still one of the best goalies in the league. We’ve seen him play injured for a while, and that’s really hurting his game. He was healthy the first three months of last season, and he was dominant. Then, John Hynes played him for most of December without proper breaks. Then he got injured.

Kinkaid, meanwhile, was like two different players. He had a very rough start to the year. It was so bad, people were actually calling for Ken Appleby and Eddie Lack to get a shot to take over the backup spot. In the second half of the year, Kinkaid carried the Devils on his back and brought them to the playoffs.

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Kinkaid was great at the end of last year, but we know that isn’t the true Kinkaid we’re used to. This year, it would not be smart to go into the year relying on Kinkaid to be great over 60-65 games.

Also, this comes down to money. The Devils are paying Schneider $6 million dollars for the next four seasons. This team needs him to step up after two less-than-stellar seasons. Kinkaid, on the other hand, is going into a contract year. If he proves himself to be good enough to be the starter, the Devils may have to watch him do it somewhere else.

The best possible scenario for the Devils is if Schneider can play 50 games while Kinkaid can play the remaining 32. It gives Schneider plenty of rest and give Kinkaid the kind of workload he can excel with. Either way, there is no goalie battle.