Apologies for the bump, I was doing a deep dive on the Devils 1999-2000 and looked a bit deeper into the playoff opponents that season. I had forgotten that Trevor Kidd was on the Panthers and was initially confused when I saw that they carried three NHL goalies that season. I remembered Mike Vernon in net against the Devils in the playoffs. I did a little reading on Kidd to refresh my memory:
- June 25, 1999: Carolina opts to protect Arturs Irbe over Kidd at the Expansion Draft. Kidd had a solid 1997-98 with Carolina but lost the starting gig to Irbe in 1998-99. Atlanta drafts Kidd and immediately trades him to Florida.
- November 18, 1999: With Kidd seemingly locked in as the goalie of the present/future, the team trades veteran goalie Sean Burke to Phoenix for cheaper backup Mikhail Shtalenkov. Phoenix was dealing with Nikolai Khabibulin's holdout which would linger into the 2000-01 season.
After Panthers goalie Trevor Kidd dislocated his right shoulder making a save during Florida's SuperSkills competition on Dec. 13, several teammates grumbled that taking part in the NHL-mandated exhibition was a needless risk. The Panthers were understandably shocked to learn that Kidd, who was 13-4-2 with a league-best .930 save percentage, will be sidelined for at least two months.
- December 13, 1999: The NHL required teams hold a local skills competition to promote the eventual one at the All-Star game. During the rapid fire event, Kidd dislocates his shoulder and is out at least two months. To that point, Kidd was doing really well.
- December 30, 1999: Shtalenkov has some shaky starts and Florida starts shopping for a goalie. Eventually they work out a three way deal where they send Radek Dvorak to the Rangers, New York sends Todd Harvey to San Jose, and the Panthers get Mike Vernon from the Sharks. San Jose decided that they would go forward with Steve Shields as their starter and they had a young Evgeni Nabokov ready to be called up from the AHL. Dvorak seemed to be lost in the shuffle behind Pavel Bure, Scott Mellanby, and Mark Parrish but he'd have a couple good years in New York.
- February 23, 2000: Kidd comes back but has a rough stretch (1-7-0, 3.99 GAA, .881 sv%) and Florida sticks with Vernon for the playoffs.
- June 23, 2000: Florida opts to protect one goalie (Kidd) for the expansion draft and lose Vernon.
- June 24, 2000: Florida trades Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha to the Islanders for Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen
Kidd begins the season as the starter but ends up splitting starts with Luongo who puts up superior numbers. It was an interesting thought exercise to think if Kidd's career would have been any different had he not been injured in that skills competition. Then again, perhaps it would have been a repeat of his Carolina years.