Islanders May Finally Dump Perpetually Injured Rick DiPietro

The New York Islanders will not go down in the history books anytime soon as being a good organization.  In fact, they’re one of the worst professional franchises around in modern sports which is sad since they had a brief dynasty in the late 70′s, early 80′s until that little Gretzky guy knocked them out of relevance.

The Isles have made a humongous amount of blunders in the last decade. Enough to probably write a “How NOT To” manual for any budding sports GMs.

One of their larger blunders was signing goalie Rick DiPietro to a stunning 15-year contract in

The problem was DiPietro was not a bad goaltender. He’s decent and some great earlier years and he was the first overall selection by the Islanders in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Islander GM “Mad” Mike Milbury traded goalie Roberto Luongo, an All Star who led the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals last year, for the rights to draft Rick.

DiPietro even played for the U.S. squad in the 2006 Olympics and did well so we’re not talking about a bad goaltender here.  His professional stats are essentially mediocre at best but considering he’s playing for the Isles you have to give him some extra love.

We’re just not talking about a great goaltender. Signing a 15-year contract is absurd, mostly in this day of free agents. Most players would be lucky to even play 15 years in the league and even though New York clearly though Rick would be one of the guys who could surprisingly fill out that contract you have to wonder what the heck they were thinking.

On September 12, 2006, DiPietro signed a 15-year, $67.5 million contract with the Islanders and as you would have guessed it he’s been pretty much injured since then.

The contract was a huge mistake by the Islanders. You can count on one hand the goalies who could have even played out that contract, like the Devils Martin Brodeur, and by 2006 DiPietro was already entering his prime. Thinking he could hold the net until 2021 is just stupid.

Now the Isles have hopefully found a loophole out of DiPietro’s huge contract, which bogs down the team. Milbury’s trade for DiPietro may go down as one of the biggest blunders in NHL history.  And to think they knew that Luongo would be a good goalie but were too cheap to pay him is just a tough pill to swallow for any Isles fan.

However, when the Islanders’ previous goalie of the future, Roberto Luongo, was due to a pay raise, he was inexplicably dealt along with Long Island malcontent Olli Jokinen to Florida for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

There was no budgetary excuse for the move. Milbury’s thought was to trade a franchise goaltender and add two offensive pieces to make a difference on the ice immediately. In that swap, and by selecting DiPietro with the next draft’s No. 1 pick, Milbury ignored both Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik, players that would have also served as offensive upgrades. Each of them currently has more NHL points than Parrish and Kvasha combined. Actually, so does Jokinen as well.

In the end DiPietro will go down for most fans as a punchline instead of the good goalie he could have been. Given another team I believe that Rick could have developed into a solid goalie. Just not a good fighter. But with that 15-year contract bullseye on his back it’s hard to look at anything else.

For DiPietro, he might have been doomed from the second he signed the deal. His notorious contract drove a wedge between Neil Smith, the short-termed GM predecessor to Snow, and Wang. Charles wanted to work out a “lifetime” deal with DiPietro by himself. Smith attempted to contact DiPietro’s agent to work out a more NHL-sized six-year deal.

The fallout of the contract impacted many people. It turned Snow into the GM and eventually led to DiPietro firing his agent, Paul Krepelka, while stiffing the agent’s agency out of their cut. That company, headed by Bobby Orr and partners Rich Curran and Krepelka, filed a grievance against DiPietro that was subsequently settled out of court.

The hardest part now for the Islanders is trying to dump the huge contract. The team is struggling to get out of the cellar and with their current home on Long Island about to fall over, a new home is a must. Unfortunately, where that new home will be is still in the air.

I personally think the team will end up moving soon and namely huge contracts not worth their money are the first step in cleaning house.

Mike Smith Blanks Pavel Datsyuk

Mike Smith does an amazing save on a nice deke by Datsyuk in a shootout. The Coyotes and Red Wings battled it out in OT with Detroit getting the win in a shootout but Mike Smith does all he can to keep his team in the game.

The Coyotes have stumbled upon a great goalie in Smith, who isn’t on the best team but he has been able to compile a nice 17-12-7 record and helping the Coyotes stay in the playoff race.

It’s not the first time we’ve talked about a great Mike Smith glove save and it’s surely not the last. Check out Smith as he keeps his wits about him to stop this brilliant Datsyuk deke during the shootout.

Yo! Alex Ovechkin Shows Off Rap Skills in Russian Music Video

Alex Ovechkin is one of those athletes that keeps as busy off the ice as he does on it. From car commericals to candy bars to ESPN ads, Ovi is one hot commodity and that’s why it’s a pleasant yet unexpected surprise to see the Washington Capitals forward popping up in a rap video to drop a verse.

I’m not familiar with the crazy world of Russian rap so I’m guessing this is a good thing. I’m still a bit shocked there is such a thing but there have been crazier things to happen.

Ovi appears in the latest video for Sasha Belyi’s rap song “Champion.”  And the guys at Russian Machine Never Breaks, are on it for decphiering the Russian lyrics for us.

Alumni of Dynamo
8 on the back.
In the All-Star game all attention is on me.

On the NatTeam since 17
Scored 100 points in a season
Gold medal in Canada in ’08

Among the ten best players of the decade,
Stick in my hands, Rap in my headphones,
Saying hello from Washington,
Together with Sanya Belyi,
For every champion

[And then a bizarre sound that sounds like the English words "Look out!"]

Do the North Dakota Freak Out

It’s always humorous when a player throws a tantrum after being given the boot. North Dakota Fighting Sioux player Danny Kristo not only gives us a chuckle for throwing a little baby tantrum after getting ejection but if you watch the reason why you’ll laugh some more.

That’s because Kristo delivers a dirty, if not the dirtiest, hit I’ve seen in awhile as he drives an opponent into the boards and gives a very deliberate elbow to the head in the process.

Hey ref, is that a penalty? Guess so in the NCAA. Who knew?

North Dakota Player Freaks Out After Getting Thrown Out For a Very Dirty Hit

Monster Hockey Hit of the Year

Down in the ECHL there are some guys that know how to hit! Scott Fletcher of the Florida Everblades flat-out annihilates Mike Embach of the Chicago Express in this clip from the ECHL.

It’s one of the most perfect open ice hits you’ll see as Fletcher levels the flying Embach, who pays no attention as he’s trying to make a play. The good news is that it appears that Embach is not seriously hurt on the play but I’d be checking his melon out in depth since his helmet flies off at the start of the hit.

NHL Puck Funs

Mike Smith’s Amazing Penalty Shot Save

Mike Smith stops Marian Gaborik on an overtime penalty shot with an unbelievable lunging save. Smith keeps his stick down as he bends over almost backwards when Gaborik sneaks over to the side of the net. Gaborik went to the forehand and and it looked like he had Smith beat before Smith turned into a slinky and sprawled to his right to get the stick on the puck.

Smith made this beauty at 3:10 of overtime and sadly for Smith it didn’t hold off the red-hot Rangers who would win in a shootout, 2-1.

Shawn Thorntons Sweet Penalty Shot

Hey, if you don’t get too many goals you might as well take advantage of times like this. After the Winnipeg Jets miss a shot on goal, the puck goes soaring toward the blue line where the Bruins Shawn Thornton picks it up for a breakaway.

Thornton is known more for his penalty minutes than his goal scoring so it might have been better off if the Jets defense had just let him go. Instead, Thornton gets bugged enough that he can’t get a shot off and the ref calls for a penalty shot.

Given the extra chance, Shawn Thornton scores with a sick move on a shorthanded penalty shot against Ondrej Pavelec, his first career penalty shot attempt.

Kings Winger Dustin Penner Injured Eating Pancakes!

LOL…someone put out an APB for Mrs. Butterworth. There’s been some fishy violence out on the west coast.

Los Angeles Kings winger Dustin Penner unwisely revealed he was unable to play over the weekend and had to sit out after suffering back spasms brought on by eating pancakes.

Seriously!? That’s a new one.

Penner was going to just sit down and enjoy a savory dish of awesomeness in the form of Pancakes when something went wrong. Something real wrong.

The pancakes grabbed his knife and refused to be eaten. Instead, the pancakes went after Penner and chased him around the kitchen. After a brutal fight, Penner was able to pin down the pancakes and kill them.

That sounds reasonable, right? I mean it makes more sense than bending over to eat and throwing out your back?

It’s not everyday that an awesome breakfast dish knocks out a professional athlete. I expect this kind of behavior from crêpes, not pancakes.

[via Fox Sports] Penner, who is no stranger to being knocked for his weight, admitted he was forced to sit out the Kings’ 1-0 loss to Columbus Saturday after becoming crippled as he leaned forward to tuck into his breakfast.

“Apparently it’s one of those mysterious things, where you can throw it out sneezing,” he told LA Kings Insider.

“I just leaned over to dip into some delicious pancakes that my wife made. It’s just like it wraps around you and squeezes.”

The 242-pound left winger said his back “locked” and he was unable to stand.

Jarome Iginla notches 500th goal

Congrats to one of the most underrated players in the NHL. Calgary Flames forward Jarome Iginla continues to toil in obscurity up in Calgary, where the Flames struggle to stay out of the cellar.

But Iginla now is in the record books as the 34-year old RW became the 42nd player to score 500 goals. Jarome Iginla hit the milestone Saturday night in a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.

The goal counts for Iginla but it wasn’t exactly a beauty. That’s because it’s a deflection that had eyes for the net. Great milestone for Iginla, who has worked hard to get there. Too bad we won’t be seeing him work his magic in the playoffs anytime.

[via Globe and Mail] Iginla is third among active goal-scoring leaders, trailing only Jaromir Jagr and Teemu Selanne.

Iginla is 34 and technically scored his first NHL goal in the spring of 1996, as a junior call-up from Kamloops in a playoff game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

His first official goal came in October of 1996, a year in which he scored 21 goals and 50 points to finish second in the Calder Trophy balloting to Bryan Berard of the New York Islanders.

Iginla became one of only 15 players to score his 500 goals (goals 1-500) with the same organization: Jean Beliveau, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe, Guy Lafleur, Mario Lemieux, Stan Makita, Mike Modano, Gilbert Perreault, Maurice Richard, Joe Sakic, Brian Trottier and Steve Yzerman.

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