Islanders To Buy Out DiPietro's Contract

Well this has been a long time coming. As was announced by Arthur Staple of Newsday, the New York Islanders will use a compliance buyout on goalie Rick DiPietro. The Islanders placed DiPietro on unconditional waivers Tuesday, a day after Newsday's Arthur Staple reported the team will use a compliance buyout on DiPietro's contract, which has eight years remaining at $4.5 million annually. By using a compliance buyout, the Islanders would pay DiPietro $1.5 million annually for the next 16 years. That money would not count against the salary cap. The first-overall selection at the 2000 NHL Draft, DiPietro appeared in 319 games for New York, going 130-136-36 with a 2.87 GAA and .902 save percentage.

I'm sorry but this should have been done over a year ago. First things first. The problem I had with the whole situation was that the team even signed him to the deal in the first place. DiPietro was a good goalie I'm not going to deny that. He wasn't an elite netminder, but he wasn't horrible either. He was good to borderline great when he was really on his game. He won 30+ games twice for the team, and could have been a star, possibly, in this league. Then the injuries started to take their toll and Ricky wasn't the same after that. Mentally and physically his game started to go downhill after the first rash of injuries. So I feel this should have been done over a year ago, both for his sake and the sake of the hockey team.

Now the problem I had originally was I don't think it should have been a 15 year deal to begin with. The contract should have been a total of 5-8 years at the absolute most. I'm sorry but there is no way he was worth a 15 year deal. No goalie has ever been worth a contract of that length. Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy are the two greatest goalies of all time, and I don't think they should ever get contracts that long. There are only three people in the history of hockey that should even be considered for getting a 15 year deal: Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. That is it!

Contracts of that length can be dangerous for a team, and with the injuries DiPietro suffered during his career, its easy to see why. Every hockey player is subject to injuries, its the nature of the game. Goalies are more prone to it because of the physical demands on the position. Not only are injuries a factor, performance is as well. There was no guarantee that Ricky would have been able to produce for 15 years. Goalies have a tendency to be very streaky, in that they can have a good year one year and a bad one the next. Its a huge risk to sign goalies to long term contracts and this deal proved it.