The 29-year-old goalie is in the final season of a two-year, $2.5 million contract he signed June 29, 2017, and can become an unrestricted free agent July 1. He's 15-18-6 with a 3.36 goals-against average, .891 save percentage and three shutouts in 41 games (38 starts) this season.
The Blue Jackets will carry three goalies on their roster: Kinkaid, Sergei Bobrovsky and Joonas Korpisalo.
"It's one easier way of not having enough goaltending," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "Kinkaid gives us an experienced guy who's been in the League. He's an NHL goaltender who's probably the biggest reason, or one of the biggest reasons, New Jersey made the playoffs last year.
"New Jersey probably hasn't had the best year this year along with Keith Kinkaid, but he's a proven goaltender at the NHL level and you need three of those type of guys here on your depth chart.
Kinkaid won his first four games this season with a 1.00 GAA, .961 save percentage and two shutouts, but has struggled since then. He was 26-10-3 with a 2.77 GAA and .913 save percentage in an NHL career-high 41 games in 2017-18 to help the Devils qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was 13-2-1 in his final 16 regular-season games, with starter Cory Schneider out injured and then returning from a hip injury, to help New Jersey clinch its first playoff appearance since 2012.
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"[Korpisalo] is our backup," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "Kinkaid comes in here, I've got to talk to Manny [goalie coach Legace] as far as what he's all about and then we'll figure all that out. The first thing we talked about is managing the practice, for the starting goalie in the particular game the next night or whatever may be, the morning skate. We've got to manage that with three goalies. Again, I'm not force-feeding that.
"I'm not going to forget how [Korpisalo] has developed here and some of the things he's done. Having said that, I think Kinkaid had a really good year last year for Jersey, I know that. I'm not sure what's gone on this year and we'll make a read as we go through."
Undrafted, Kinkaid signed an entry-level contract with New Jersey on April 18, 2011. He's 64-55-17 with a 2.90 GAA, .906 save percentage and seven shutouts in 151 regular-season games and 0-2 with a 5.88 GAA and .804 save percentage in two playoff games.
"Keith was a good story for us," Devils coach John Hynes said. "He's grown tremendously as a goalie and certainly grown tremendously as a person and a pro, so we had a really good talk this morning and he's leaving here a better player, a better person and a more mature professional. He obviously was one of the main reasons we were able to get into the playoffs last year, he played very well down the stretch when we needed him too. This is a tremendous opportunity for him where he certainly earned it and on a team that's competing for playoffs."
The Blue Jackets (35-23-3) are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, four points behind the Washington Capitals and one ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins.
"He's a good goalie and I think he provides the depth you need in goaltending," Bobrovsky said. "It's a very demanding job for the goalie, lots of injuries this season so you never know what's going to happen. You need the goalies."
NHL.com staff writer Mike G. Morreale and correspondent Craig Merz contributed to this report
