The New York Rangers have signed goaltender Keith Kinkaid for 2020-21. The deal is for two years and will carry an annual cap hit of just $875,000. Sirius XM’s NHL channel broke the news early Friday afternoon.
BREAKING NEWS -The #NYR have signed Keith Kinkaid to a two-year contract @NYRangers #NHLFreeAgency
— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) October 9, 2020
Rangers Sign Keith Kinkaid
Kincaid spend 2019-20 with the Montreal Canadians as one of the goalies responsible for backing up Carey Price. The veteran played in six games with an .875 save percentage and 4.24 goals-against average. Both of those figures were the worst of Kincaid’s career. He wasn’t much better with the AHL affiliate in Laval either. His adjusted goals-against was even worse at 4.59. Kincaid has fallen far from his peak in 2016-17 with the New Jersey Devils when he started in 23 games and posted a .916 save percentage and 2.64 goals-against.
Kincaid was not drafted before signing with the Devils in 2011. He would help backstop New Jersey for six seasons before heading to the Columbus Blue Jackets in early 2019 in exchange for a fifth-round selection in the 2022 Draft. The Canadiens signed before 2019-20 began but he obviously was only a spare body behind the durable Price. Overall, Kinkaid has appeared in 157 NHL games with a .905 save percentage and 2.95 goals-against-average. He can be a perfectly average third goaltender going into his age-31 season if expectations are low.
What This Means for the Future
Kinkaid will probably help anchor New York’s AHL affiliate in Hartford. He’ll only be needed if someone gets hurt. The Rangers are already looking at one of the finest young goaltending duos in the NHL between Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev. Kinkaid is merely insurance if something happens to either of them.
This is also a very smart move as the league approaches the Seattle expansion draft. With Henrik Lundqvist now with the Washington Capitals, Kinkaid becomes the team’s obvious candidate to expose when the Seattle Kraken make their selections. They would have had to potentially expose Georgiev otherwise.
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