Arthur Staple of Long Island Newsday reports that the New York Islanders will place Rick Dipietro on waivers tomorrow for the purposes of using an amnesty buyout on the netminder. While there will be no cap hit, the Islanders will be obligated to pay Dipietro $1.5 million per year for the next 16 years.
Dipietro, 31-years-old, has played entire 12 year NHL career with the New York Islanders. He was drafted 1st overall by the club in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.
Islanders’ general manager Garth Snow signed Dipietro to a 15-year contract, worth $67 million, on Sept. 12, 2006. The move was done by a rookie GM and was reportedly orchestrated at the request of Isles owner Charles Wang. The contract was the first mega-long term contract of the salary cap era, though it did not feature the back diving provisions of later deals, paying Dipietro a flat $4.5 million per year for the length of the deal. There are eight year remaining on the contract, hence the 16 year payment schedule as per amnesty buyout rules.
Things looked great when Dipietro was an NHL all-star in 2008 after leading the Islanders to the playoffs in the 2006-07 season. With the rising cap, it seemed that the Isles might just have pulled off a good deal and gotten a top notch goaltender locked up longterm at a number that would be below going rate for an all-star goalie as inflation hit.
However, injuries have been the story of Dipietro’s career ever since a concussion suffered late in the 2006-07 season. Added to that concussion, have been various hip, knee, and facial fracture issues, as well as additional concussions which have caused problems for the man who was supposed to be the Islanders franchise netminder. He has only been able to play in 49 NHL games since the 2008-09 season.
Dipietro has a career 130-133-8*-28 record (*=ties) with a 2.86 GAA and .903 Save Percentage in 315 games played, all with the Islanders.
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