The New Jersey Devils are bringing back a familiar face on a two-way contract for the upcoming season. The Devils formally announced a deal with Keith Kinkaid this morning as he will likely serve as depth to the teams current goaltenders. New Jersey’s Executive Vice President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald made the announcement that will see Kinkaid take home $775K at the NHL level and $350K at the AHL level.
The undrafted Kinkaid originally signed an ELC with the Devils back in April of 2011 and spent four years shuttling back and forth between the Devils AHL affiliate Albany and the big club in New Jersey. The now 34-year-old posted very respectable numbers in his first full NHL season in 2017-18 when he had a record of 26-10-3 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.77 goals-against average.
Unfortunately for the Farmingville, New York native the wheels came off in his second full season and the Devils dealt him to Columbus in February of 2019. Since then, Kinkaid has had five different NHL stops and hasn’t been a regular NHLer.
Kinkaid has spent a great deal of time in the AHL the past few seasons and last year dressed in 27 games split between the Colorado Eagles and Providence Bruins posting a 12-10-4 record to go along with a 2.92 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.
Kinkaid figures to serve as depth for the Devils and should be a good insurance policy if they run into injury problems in the crease. New Jersey will start the season with Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid as their NHL netminders barring an injury between now and opening night.