Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid: the AHL struggle

Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid with the New Jersey Devils. Credit: AP Photo/Julio Cortez

It’s been a rough start to the year for Keith Kinkaid and Cory Schneider.

Once considered the backbone of the New Jersey Devils after their improbable 44-29-9 season in 2017-18, both have now fallen to the waist side quite considerably.

After going 28-40 the year before, a Hart trophy performance by Taylor Hall and a solid if unremarkable defensive structure turned the Devils into a contender once more, even if their playoff run was short lived, losing in 5 games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Coupled with Hall’s 93-point season (41 points more than the 2^nd leading scorer on the team, Nico Hischier) was Kinkaid’s 26-10 record after having been unremarkable as a backup in years prior. With Schneider dealing with injury problems, it seemed as though Kinkaid would give him the relief he needed and form a pretty solid 2 goalie tandem in the process.

Then, everything fell to the waist side.

Having already lost Taylor Hall to injury 33 games into the season, Kinkaid and Schneider both struggled mightily, posting a combined 21-31 record as a no name 2^nd round pick named Mackenzie Blackwood took over the Devils net.

Kinkaid was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 5^th round pick at the trade deadline, and Schneider was put on waivers, being sent down to AHL Binghamton.

Come next year, after never taking the ice with the Blue Jackets, riding the bench as the team upset the President’s trophy winning Lightning, Kinkaid signed with the Montreal Canadiens on a 1 year, 1.75-million-dollar deal. With Antti Niemi having struggled as starter’s Carey Price’s backup the year before, fans and analysts alike hoped Kinkaid would bring stability to the Canadiens net.

After undergone hip surgery the year before, there was hope too that Schneider could possibly return and act as a mentor to a promising prospect in Blackwood.

Sadly, that didn’t happen.

While there were a few (well, 1) nice saves from Kinkaid, he struggled mightily behind a Canadiens defense lacking in a true topflight defender, something Kinkaid, coupled with his long game less stint in Columbus, isn’t used to. Schneider’s play wasn’t much better, with him simply looking out of form after having struggled to remain healthy for so long. Combined, the 2 posted a 1-5-4 record, with 4.14 GAA and .863 save percentage.

All this combined led to both being put on waivers, where their struggles have only continued. The Binghamton Devils are already lacking in true NHL potential defenders, which has led them to a 7-12 record, dead last in their division, with Schneider posting an 0-3 record with a GAA of 5. In his first game with AHL Laval, Kinkaid started the game by letting in 4 goals on 13 shots, in a eventual 5-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch.

Now, I bet a lot of you are looking at these numbers and thinking, how is this possible? How can 2 NHL starting netminders be posting these kinds of numbers in the AHL? Well, for that, let’s look at another former Canadiens backup, Peter Budaj.

After having posted solid numbers in 3 years as Price’s backup, the Canadiens dealt Budaj to the Winnipeg Jets to acquire forward Eric Tangradi. Already possessing a solid 2 goalie tandem in Michael Hutchinson and Ondrej Pavelec, the Jets sent Budaj to AHL St. John’s, where he posted an 0-9-6 record in 19 games.  “My mindset was I tried to get back to the NHL as fast as possible, as soon as possible, and I think I kind of, messed myself up mentally because I wasn’t focusing on the process.” Budaj said in a segment for the LA Kings black and white series.

Budaj put a lot of his focus on getting back to the NHL, rather than simply playing well and improving his game. This is something a lot of goalies have struggled with and could be why Kinkaid and Schneider have struggled similarly. When you get down to it, goaltending is very much about mental strength as much as physical strength, with most of the pressure being on you to succeed. Therefore, if your mind isn’t in the right place, neither is your body.

Both Kinkaid and Schneider having proven in the past they can be solid goaltenders, and they both have their own reasons for why they are where they are. Kinkaid’s being lack of playing time in Columbus and high expectations in Montreal, and Schneider’s being declining physical health and a lack of form.

However, that doesn’t mean that their stories end here.

In Budaj’s case, he took this new way of thinking into a PTO with the Kings, eventually signing a contract to play for their AHL team in Ontario. There, he posted a 42-win, 7 shutout seasons, eventually becoming the Kings starter the following year after Jonathan Quick went down with an injury, posting a 27-20 record with 7 shutouts.

Peter Budaj was one of the NHL's biggest comeback stories in 2016-17. Credit: NHL.com

For both Kinkaid and Schneider, they were sent down for the same reason. To get their confidence back and find the form they once had a few years ago. And while both have struggled so far in the AHL, it doesn’t mean they can’t turn things around. At the end of the day, the AHL and NHL have a big skill gap between them, which can make it hard to adjust to both ways, especially if you’re not in the right frame of mind. For Kinkaid and Schneider, it’s simply to reset, readjust, and rethink,

Their future.