If it really is about injury insurance it's a blunder, a waste of a pick when our scouts have so few.
"• Expect a healthy dose of Bobrovsky the rest of the way, as the Blue Jackets have a 21-game sprint to lock down a playoff spot (and try to avoid a first-round matchup with Tampa Bay). Tortorella made it clear that he views Korpisalo as Bobrovsky’s backup, so it’ll be curious to see how Kinkaid stays busy.
• Why acquire Kinkaid? Well, it’s an insurance policy should something unfortunate happen down the stretch. Before the trade, AHL Cleveland’s Jean-Francois Berube was the organization’s No. 3. Some have called the Blue Jackets “reckless” for selling so much of their future for a bunch of UFAs, but it would be truly reckless to put together a roster such as this and have it fall to pieces because of an injury to a goaltender.
• Don’t forget: Elvis is coming, too, as soon as his season ends in Switzerland. After a loss Monday, Merzlikins’ Lugano club is one point out of the playoffs with three games remaining in the regular season. Two of Lugano’s remaining three games are against the top two teams in the Swiss League."
You don't need to explain to me why insurance is a nice thing. Winning the Stanley Cup is not like protecting an investment. Inherently there's a low probability of success, whereas insurance should be a guard against a low probability of failure. We just paid an extra nickel for a scratch ticket, without changing the chance of success by more than .01%.
And nevermind that it seems "definitely an NHL goalie" Merzlikins is here too now. So we're talking about paying to protect against the possibility that 3 goalies get hurt at once. There might be a better probability that that 5th round draft pick turns into the next Nikita Kucherov.
I would have thought there's a chance they would put Kinkaid in in the scenario where Bobrovsky starts out struggling in a series against, say Washington or Pittsburgh. But Torts contention that Kinkaid is the #3 goalie seems to squash that possibility. By the time you find out goalies #1 and #2 don't work, the series is over.