We officially have our first trade of the National Hockey League's trade deadline day for the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season.
According to a breaking news report from TSN National Hockey League insider Bob McKenzie the New Jersey Devils have traded their starting goaltender Keith Kinkaid. McKenzie report that Kinkaid is on his way top the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, yes once again the Blue Jackets appear to be making absolutely all the moves ahead of the deadline, in exchange for just a 5th round draft selection. It is unclear at this time in what year the fifth round pick will come, but if I had to take I guess I would assume it will be in 2019, although to be clear that is pure speculation my part at this time.
The move effectively is confirmation that the New Jersey Devils and Devils' general manager Ray Shero have thrown in the towel on this season and given their current placement in the standings you can hardly blame them for doing so. That being said the acquisition of Kinkaid by the Blue Jackets is equally surprising given the fact that he has not played well overall this season. Although he has appeared in a large sample size of 41 games on the season Kinkaid has recorded an ugly 3.36 goals against average and possibly an even uglier save percentage of .891 on the season.
That of course raises questions about the future of Columbus Blue Jackets star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who has been linked to all kinds of rumors over the past several weeks and even months. It is no secret that Bobrovsky's relationship with his current team has completely deteriorated and the expectation is that the two will split by the end of this season at the very latest, but the Kinkaid deal may not actually be related to the issues with Bobrovsky.
TSN National Hockey League insider Bob Mckenzie cautioned those who were quick to jump to the conclusion that this indicates that Bobrovsky will be traded, suggesting instead that he feels the Blue Jackets want more security in net with them currently lacking confidence in their back up options behind Bobrovsky.
