clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Rick DiPietro Buyout: New York Islanders to Cut Ties with 2000 1st Overall Pick

The Islanders will use one of two available compliance buyouts on Rick DiPietro, according to Newsday.

By David Hanssen
Paul Bereswill

Well the day we all kind of figured would be coming has arrived. According to Newsday's Arthur Staple Rick DiPietro, his contract and his medical records have been bought out by the Islanders.

The Isles are on the hook for 2/3 of his salary spread out over twice the time left on the contract, or about $1.5 million, until 2029. Since it is one of the two new compliance buyouts it does not count against the cap.

DiPietro obviously has been a bit of a lightning rod, what with his 15-year contract and list of injuries longer than the LIE. It's almost hard to remember for a while he was an All Star quality starting goalie and starter for Team USA at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. It's been pretty downhill since 2008 though and DiPietro hasn't started in more than 26 games since that season.

Since then DiPietro has become the symbol of the organization's perceived ineptitude (correctly and incorrectly) to national sports writers. This year things reached a head though. During the lockout he signed for a team in the German second division where he immediately drew the ire of fans there for play that made some wonder aloud if he was ok.

He was demoted down to Bridgeport earlier in the season after looking abysmal in his short time with the Islanders this year. Snow tried in vain to trade him off for another bad contract before the draft but found no takers.

And thus ends the Islanders career of Rick DiPietro, the first goalie to be selected #1 overall in the NHL draft. This is certainly the end of something for the Islanders organization as they jettison the one time face of the franchise and longest tenured player.

Related Links

Here is TSN's story on the buyout.

And Staple's if you're fortunate enough to get past the paywall.

And a bit of dark humor for the JIMs out there:

Next Up In Bits o' Islanders News