I have never been a big fan of Schnierder. I felt like management bamboozled their fans at the draft. They even admitted that they made the deal earlier but kept it a secret till the draft party. Here is the guy who is going to replaced a legend. Instead of having the 10th pick overall and having a farm system do its job. (Has nothing to do with him as a player or stats)
On the flipside, I have always been a fan of Kinkaid. Local kid who was a fan of Broduer, worked his butt off. Played well at Union and earned a contract with the Devils. Pay his dues in AHL and as a backup. Even before this run he has had some remarkable games. The first that comes to mind is the Islander where he faced 45 shots, kept the Devils in the game. They lost 3-2 in OT.
Some guys are better starters then backups. Its a hard thankless job. because thier window of opportunity is short. You get 1-2 bad games and you can be out of the NHL. You do really well but the other guy is the “Starter” with a long term deal. Then the team drafts the goalie of the future. You sit for 40 minuets and then are asked to come into a game were the other guy got sheld and the team sucks.You haven’t started in 3 weeks, you can start againts the number 1 team in the east on the second day of back to backs, when the team is on the tail end of 3 games in 4 nights. Its hard to compare stats when you add in all of the intangibles. A mediocre AHL goalie can be great in the NHL because of the quality of thier teammates.
Also the team as a whole played well in October -December. Most of Gibbon’s, Bratt’s, Byole’s points came in that time. The team still covered Schneiders misques. The Devils were averaging over 3 goals a game.
As of today Kinkaid is the better starter, but does that mean he is a “starter”? Who gives a farticicle, play the hot hand..