New Jersey Devils: Keith Kinkaid About To Be Odd Man Out
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils are about to have a very hard decision to make about their goaltenders, but when really thinking about it, there’s only one choice to make.
The New Jersey Devils really didn’t have much of a choice for who to start against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. Mackenzie Blackwood is coming off an injury, just let up five goals in an insane game against the Chicago Blackhawks, and never looked good in back-to-back games when he was with Binghamton. The Devils needed to start Keith Kinkaid, but it did not work out.
Kinkaid allowed four goals in just over one period of play. That’s well more than enough. The Devils were only able to come up with one goal, but that’s not the point here.
Kinkaid has been nothing short of terrible for a few months. The guy who carried the Devils to the playoffs last year seems gone and forgotten.
He’s had small glimpses of being really good, but it goes away almost immediately. He allowed two goals in two games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Nashville Predators, but then gave up five in two periods against the Toronto Maple Leafs. That was the last time we really had faith in Kinkaid in net, and Mackenzie Blackwood has stolen the net since then.
It would be fine to go through the rest of the season with Blackwood and Kinkaid in net in most situations, but this isn’t most situations.
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Cory Schneider is still being paid like a starting goalie, and he’s on his way back from injured reserve. He’s already practicing with the team, and could be ready to go by the end of the month. The Devils can put him in Binghamton on a conditioning assignment, but that only buys them a week.
That means the Devils have a decision to make. They can either send Blackwood back down to the AHL despite his recent play, try to get Cory through waivers to make the Binghamton stint more permanent, or they have to move on from Kinkaid.
That last one seems to be the one that makes the most sense, at least today. Kinkaid is a free agent at the end of the season. There is zero chance the Devils bring him back, unless they somehow get rid of Schneider. He’s a piece that might get them something on the trade market, or they might have to place him on waivers.
Kinkaid is not in the same vein as Schneider. Someone would claim Kinkaid off waivers if the Devils put him there. Many teams are looking for a goalie who could find lightning in a bottle, and with how he played last season teams would be willing to take a chance on him.
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It might not come to that. General manager Ray Shero is likely being aggressive trying to find a trade partner for Kinkaid. Something could happen during the Devils bye week and the All-Star break, so the team has time to deal with the ramifications in the locker room. Kinkaid was a good Devils player for a while, and it’s sad things are ending this way, but with Schneider coming back and Blackwood playing the way he has, this seems like the only option.