4:10 p.m.: The Devils have returned Schmid to Utica after dropping today’s game against the Hurricanes 4-2. Barring injuries, that’s where he’ll remain for the rest of the season. He likely won’t be needed for Monday’s game against the Rangers as Kahkonen reportedly made it to New Jersey after the loss, James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now reports.
10:45 a.m.: After acquiring Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen in separate trades on Friday, the Devils returned goaltender Akira Schmid to AHL Utica. However, his stint will be short-lived for now as team reporter Amanda Stein relays (Twitter link) that Schmid has been recalled and will serve as the backup today versus Carolina.
Kahkonen hasn’t made it to New Jersey just yet while Allen will require a work visa, a process that will be delayed due to the weekend so he likely won’t be available until closer to the middle of next week. Accordingly, they needed a second option behind Nico Daws for today so this will qualify as an emergency recall, not one of their four post-deadline regular recalls.
It has been a disappointing season for Schmid so far. After taking over as the starter down the stretch last season and into the playoffs, the 23-year-old has struggled mightily this season, posting a 3.15 GAA and a .895 SV% through 19 appearances. Things haven’t gone any better with the Comets either with his numbers down there (3.47 and .886 respectively) being worse than at the NHL level.
One of the positives from New Jersey’s pivot to a new tandem entirely is that both Schmid and Daws will get to return to Utica for the stretch run, allowing them to both play some meaningful games down the stretch with the Comets in a tight battle for a playoff spot. However, it will be a few more days before that will be able to happen.
Pretty bizarre that Fitzgerald had to wait until he fired Lindy and the absolute last minute of the deadline to acquire two goalies that he could have had without much fuss/allocation of assets in December. In fact, one might be led to believe he did a terrible job with asset management this season, and overrated his own team off last year’s success.
Maybe he’s another jarmo
I think you hit the nail square on that one.
Fitzgerald did not want to part with any top draft picks or prospects to get one of the better goalies on the market.