This doesn't seem like a very good way to hire a developer to me. Why not actually ask them direct questions to find out if they can code? Why not look at and talk through some code they have written, or even ask them to write some code there and then discuss it?

Why go through all the levels of indirection of a LinkedIn search and then sift through hearsay? Why assume that the one or two people you talk to actually know what they're talking about? You haven't even vetted the candidate, so you're going to put blind faith in the two strangers you find via LinkedIn? What if they are not very good, or have poor judgement, or what if they hate your candidate because he was really good and they weren't (or for any other irrational reason)?

I'm not trying to be rude, and maybe I'm missing something brilliant here ... but I just don't see any "secret sauce" here.