11-12 The Cup Keith Kinkaid Auto Patch Rookie /249

Countless pundits in the hockey world begin this season by saying the Devils will finish dead last. When I would read these articles I would just shake my head and think that their predictions were a little harsh and off the mark. For those of you that follow the game closely might even remember that on Jan 1st the Devils were actually in a playoff spot nearly 1/2 way through the season. Then our depth was exposed when Mike Cammalleri was injured and missed the rest of the season and Cory Schneider also went down with injury in March and missed 11 games. This isn't a team that I think would be projected to be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference the following season after trading for Taylor Hall.

Fast forward to 13 games into this season and the Devils are a respectable 7-3-3. True there are many more games to be played but we have managed to get that record thus far and really haven't shown signs of slowing down. The Devils have relied on a combination of timely scoring and great goaltending in particular from BOTH goalies. To do well this season we will need our young players to continue to develop and guys like Hall, Henrique, Severson, Zajac and Palmieri to continue to produce offensively. Last night was a great character win over the Buffalo Sabres which had the Devils winning 2-1 in OT after being down 1-0 early. Keith Kinkaid played very well stopping 25/26 shots on the road where the Devils have struggled a bit this season. On the year Kinkaid is a very respectable 2-0-1 with a 1.65 g.a.a and a .944 save percentage. He will be expected this year more than ever to get us wins if we are hoping to make the post season. In honour of his great start to the season, here is a little Kinkaid gem I picked up. 

11-12 The Cup Keith Kinkaid Auto Patch Rookie /249

As with all The Cup rookies, you get a nice on card autograph and in most cases you also get a patch from a player worn jersey and this one has the Devils three colours. As you can see, the photo has Keith sporting his Union College helmet and the number 30 which of course was his College number and in honour of his idol Martin Brodeur. Keith wears #1 for the Devils which was one worn by another great former Devils goalie....J-F Damphousse....just kidding (ok he actually did) but I am referring to Sean Burke!

Thanks for stopping by and putting up with a little Devils rant!

What happens when one Devils fan meets another on Twitter?

Social media has impacted most people and while not all impacts are positive, I can say it has been a positive for me. I have had a chance to meet other collectors, get neat links and see other people's collecting successes. When you have little money for the hobby, trading is one way to freshen up your collection and the next couple posts will be on that topic.

One trade I made this summer involved a fellow Devils fan named Tom who wrote me asking me if I ever traded with people on twitter. I responded that I did and from there a friendship formed. While the trade we made isn't going to be the envy of collectors world wide and we didn't swap thousands of dollars in cards, we did help each other out and found a fellow fan with a common interest. 

Tom is a collector who is trying to specifically focus on Marty Brodeur and I am a collector who is all over the map. In the end we each sent a package with some fun cards to go along with a 3 for 3 trade. Here are the three that made their way to me: 

While I already have a Matteau auto, I believe this kid will be good and I do like the Prizm release so I felt picking this one up was a nice addition.

This card was the centerpiece of the trade. Numbered to just /25, Keith is GOING to be the backup goalie for the Devils after the preseason is over and I am happy to add a third auto to my collection to go along with his Dominion rookie and a ITG AHL auto of his.

This last card seems a little dirty for a Devils fan to own, but like I said I am all over the map. Having avoided 12-13 like the plague I am without a few decent rookies and Kreider is one of them. He has potential to be decent so I felt a chance was here for me to land this card at a fair price so I sprang for it and I am happy to add it. Besides, you never know where he will be in 5-6 years.

Thanks for a great trade Tom, I appreciate our chats and I look forward to having another Devils fan to cheer with.

11-12 Dominion Keith Kinkaid Auto Rookie /199

Before there was Cory Schneider, I really felt and still think the Keith Kinkaid could be a good option for the Devils. With Cory having done very well this season, it looks like next year it is between Scott Wedgewood and Keith Kinkaid for the back-up job. The early favourite is Keith and he already has NHL cardboard so that makes sense right?

As far as top cardboard goes, UD's The Cup has been king since 2005 but when Panini entered the game in 2010, they took a stab at the top dog with their Dominion brand. In my opinion I find them every bit as nice and little to no difference in design or quality. Both are super think, both have "player worn" patches and autos. Both are very expensive to buy by the pack and both are very limited in print run.

So why do collectors pay that much more of a premium for The Cup over Dominion? Is it familiarity or is there something I am missing? This card set me back 2 bucks!

11-12 Dominion Keith Kinkaid Auto Rookie /199 

Here is the front, nice auto, limited to 199 copies and good balance of foil and photo.

Here is the back, I prefer stats and vitals but still it isn't wasted space because of a huge pointless guarantee. So what am I missing? Why is this card so inferior to The Cup? True, Kinkaid has a player worn swatch on his UD version but apart from that, even common auto rookies from The Cup sell for much more than their Dominion counterparts. Another example is my Brett Connolly Dominion Gold Patch Auto Rookie /25. I paid roughly the same price for my Brett Connolly The Cup Rookie which doesn't have as nice of a patch and has been produced in a much greater quantity, nearly 10 times as many copies. Even recently I have seen others which still aren't as nice selling for 35+ dollars with shipping and still don't feature as nice of a patch.

Idea? Why the hate for Dominion? Or is there just room in the market for one super high-end product and Panini was not renewed due to redundancy. 

Keith Kindaid Auto - The new heir apparent?

Having been a Devils fan longer than Brodeur has been with the franchise has allowed me to see many back-up goalies come and go and even more prospect goaltenders  never touch NHL ice. Since we drafted Martin Brodeur in 1990, we have drafted 16 other goalies and signed many other undrafted goalies. Keith Kinkaid was one of the undrafted goalies. Of the 16 drafted goalies, many have found other homes outside the Devils organization. You may not know this but Jets goalie Chris Mason was a Devils draft pick, so was Scott Clemmensen, and Mike Dunham. Meanwhile picks like Ari Ahonen of the KHL never got a chance because there was just Marty and someone who backs up Marty for nearly 2 decades. 

With Marty near the very end of his career, any goalie in the Devils system must be tasting opportunity sooner or later and as it stands right now our 4 in the system are Keith Kinkaid, Scott Wedgewood, Jeff Frazee and Maxime Clermont.

11/12 ITG Between the Pipes

Today I will focus on Keith Kinkaid. This was a goalie we HAD to have. Actually, Lou had to have him. Keith put up some amazing numbers while playing for Union College in the ECAC (NCAA). His second year of college saw him go 25-10-2 with a 1.99 GAA. He finished second in league wins, gaa, save and shutouts.

This past season why playing for a bad Albany Devils team, he still was a respectable 17-20-3 with a GAA of 2.94 and a .904 save percentage and 3 shutouts. Do I think he will be filling in Marty's shoes very soon? Probably not, but he could get a shot at being the number one in the next couple seasons and if he continues to grow and improve who knows how good he COULD be. Clermont and Wedgewood might have been skills and abilities than Kinkaid but skill only goes so far and hard-work can be a difference maker. Either way, with this many goalies in the system I am confident when the best player in Devils history hangs them up we will have some good talented kids to help maintain a winning tradition.