New Jersey Devils Trade Keith Kinkaid For Close To Nothing
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils took what they could for backup goalie Keith Kinkaid on NHL Trade Deadline Day. He was sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 5th-round pick in 2022.
The era of Keith Kinkaid ends with a whimper, as much of the New Jersey Devils fanbase turned their backs on him as we watched Cory Schneider find his groove for the first time in over a year. Kinkaid has not been playing well, and actually watched his save percentage drop to .891. That’s last in then entire league among qualified starters, while playing more games that anyone in the bottom five.
It’s hard to tell what caused Kinkaid to go from completely unstoppable at times this season, to literally the worst goalie in the league. He was a player GM Ray Shero was hoping to get anything for on the trade market, and he clearly took the first offer given to him. A 5th-round pick in 2022 was all it took to get the services of Kinkaid.
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Listen, Kinkaid did provide a lot of happiness during his time with the Devils. He was the biggest reason the team made the playoffs last season, a huge step in the rebuilding process. He took a major step back overall this season, but he provided some fun in the long run.
We all thought we were losing Kinkaid for nothing years ago. He had a decent season in 2016-17, posting a .916 save percentage on a dreadful Devils team. It was the first year the Devils had Taylor Hall, and things overall just didn’t click, but Kinkaid was one of the few bright spots. When he became a free agent, Devils fans thought Kinkaid would go search for a starting job.
The Devils getting a 5th-round pick in 2022 from the Columbus Blue Jackets sounds like basically nothing, and in today’s NHL it kind of is. Most GMs know that trading for a pick in three years might mean getting a pick for the next GM. Shero is in a different situation and he’s safe, but it’s still just about the smallest compensation one could get for a player. We will still take it.