Our suspicions became reality yesterday when the Islanders announced franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro will sit out the remainder of the season to take care of his twice surgically repaired bum left knee.
The news comes as the Islanders have a vice-like grip on the worst record in the league with just 29 points, 10 points worse than the nearest competition in Ottawa and Atlanta. Yann Danis and Peter Mannino will share the goalkeeping duties until Joey MacDonald comes back in about a month from his groin injury.
The season has been ugly by any measure for DiPietro and the team. The Islanders haven’t won a game in 2009 (0-7-1), have scored the fourth fewest goals (113) and allowed the third most (163). Do they play hard? Sure they do. Are they any good? Hell no.
But this is just one season and it can be forgiven if the team progresses the next few years and is actually building a winner, something GM Garth Snow seems convinced about. The major concern here shouldn’t be the 2008-09 season. In fact, a lousy record will give the Isles a better shot at bigtime prospects John Tavares and Victor Hedman in the draft.
No, the real concern is the fate of Ricky DiPietro, the face of the franchise and, more importantly, its largest investment.
DiPietro is just three years into a record-setting 15-year, $67 million contract. In the past two years, he’s had two surgeries on his left knee, and a procedure on his left hip that ended his 2007-08 season early. He has played in just five games this year.
The Islanders and their physicians say the knee should get better with rest and allow DP to make a healthy return in the 2009-10 season. They better be right. The Islanders have spent DP’s entire career trying to convince fans that DP is the building block to a championship club. He has been amazing in spurts, average in others, and now legitimately carries the label “oft-injured.”
Since joining the club in the 2000-01 season, DP has gone 117-112 with 8 ties and 21 overtime losses. He has posted a 2.79 GAA and a .905 save percentage. By comparison, Roberto Loungo, the keeper DP esssentially replaced, has a career GAA of 2.59 and a save percentage of .919. Surefire Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur has a career GAA of 2.20 and a .913 save percentage. Statistics can be tricky because so much of a keeper’s performance depends upon his teammates and the system in which he plays. Still, DP’s numbers seem like an accurate representation of his career – good but not great.
DP is 27. Are his best years ahead of him? They should be. Which means he has time to become the dominant keeper the Islanders envision. But these injuries are a major concern and are threatening to derail not just a promising career but the entire organization’s strategy.
Ladies and gentlemen, Kyle Okposo’s first National Hockey League goal…
A powerplay, game winning goal versus a future NHL Hall of Famer. Marrrrrr-ty! Marrrrr-ty! You Suck!!
Psst…whatcha doin’ next Sunday? Are you in Atlanta? Can you skate? Can you play goal?
What’s an All-Star Game without any All-Stars? We might just find out this weekend. Crosby’s out with an injury, starting Western goalie Roberto Luongo already decided to skip the game, and now starting Eastern goalie Martin Brodeur has decided to do the same…using the same lame “family” excuse that Luongo did.
Eastern Conference starting goalie Martin Brodeur on Tuesday pulled out of Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta, citing personal reasons.
Boston’s Tim Thomas was named to replace Brodeur, who played in Tuesday night’s game against the Flyers at the Wachovia Center.
The other Eastern Conference goalies are the Islanders’ Rick DiPietro and Florida’s Tomas Vokoun.
“It’s a tough decision,” Brodeur said. “I’ve got some stuff going on with the family back home, so it’s something I just wanted to make sure I was here to take care of. It’s definitely a tough one. It’s such a great weekend to miss. That’s why I waited so long. I tried to avoid making that decision, but I think it’s for the best.”
Way to be fan-friendly Marty and give the fans what they want. Is your wife pregnant too, like Luongo’s?
Forty-four games into the season, Isles goalie Rick DiPietro is on pace to set the team single season record for wins.
DP is on track to win 33.5 games this season, which would propel him past the current season best of 32 wins shared by Billy Smith, Chris Osgood and DP. DiPietro, who was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star squad last week, tied the record last season, winning 32 games in 62 starts. Osgood won 32 games in 66 starts in the 2001-2002 season. Smith set the record with an unreal 32 wins in just 46 starts in 1981-1982. Smith’s line was pretty sick that year, as he went 32-9-4 with a 2.97 GAA for a powerhouse Islanders team.
DiPietro is currently 18-14-5 in 39 games with a 2.52 GAA. If he keeps up that pace and stays healthy, he’ll have the Isles record.
By the way, New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur set the NHL single season record for wins with 48 last year. Not too shabby.
For the first time in over a month, the Isles have back-to-back games after last night’s disappointing loss to the Penguins. Tonight they visit the Devils new arena, The Prudential Center a.k.a “The Rock” in Newark, NJ for the first time. The Isles try to win their first game on this road trip while preventing (again) Devils’ goalie Martin Brodeur from his 500th win. Tonight is Brodeur’s 3rd attempt after losing to the Islanders and Rangers this past week.
Period one is in the books in Jersey, scoreless. Shots were 7-7 with the Devils getting the only powerplay of the period. Hang with Islanders Army this evening as I follow tonight’s game, recap last night, and cover some other NYI news.
The Rock has been getting some pretty good reviews 1 2 3. It gets a couple of bonus points for a cool nickname although the old nickname for the Flyers’ Wachovia Center still reigns supreme in my book. When I lived in PA, it was still the First Union Center and was known locally as just the F.U. Center which I found hysterical and appropriate for those Philly diehards. They were proud of that nickname…and they meant it too. Back to The Rock, it’s bright, it’s shiny, it’s not in the swamp of East Rutherford, what’s not to like?
Even the bathrooms impressed me, mostly because there were stickers in all the urinals that said “Rangers Suck,” but also because they allowed a flow of people in and out.
[2:30 Second Period] Comrie comes out of the penalty box (coincidental minors at the end of the 1st) and Guerin springs him for the breakaway but Brodeur makes the save. Right after that, Sutton rings the post. Two close ones for the Isles to start the period.
[5:25 Second Period] After Simon picks up 2 minutes for tripping, Devils’ defenseman Mike Mottau trips and falls in his zone on the ensuing powerplay. Josef Vasicek picks up the neatly wrapped puck, stickhandles all alone in front of Brodeur, gets him to go down and then shoots one off Marty that bounces up and behind him for a shorthanded 1-0 lead.
[15:51 Second Period] Solid PP for the Islanders but nothing to show for it. 4 shots, 1 post by Hunter.
[18:10 Second Period] Devils’ Jay Pandolfo just took a deflected Devils’ slapshot to the face. He falls to the ice, then gets up and heads into the tunnel. He’s tough, he’s a hockey player – 30 seconds later he’s back on the bench.
[End Second Period] 20 minutes to go boys. Isles outshoot the Devils 11-7 in the period.
[13:00 Third Period] Tight period, DP made some good saves early in the period as the Devils were pushing hard. Witt just got away with dumping Elias right in front of DP.
[FINAL] Islanders 1 Devils 0
Down the stretch, Elias undresses the Isles’ defense but can’t finish. The game is delayed for a review of Trent Hunter’s bang in attempt from the side of the net. No one on the ice thought it went it, but it was close enough to the line that Toronto called on the Batphone as they reviewed it just to make sure. Come on…a gift goal from Toronto? Like that’ll ever happen for the Isles.
The Devils pull Brodeur and pressure, but the Isles win and DP gets the shutout, his second of the season. Brodeur has now lost his last 4 starts – I wonder if he’ll admit to us beating him tonight? If he thought the goals last week were bad, wait until he sees the replay of tonight’s game winning gaffe goal. Now we’re even for that game last year when Isles’ defensemen Alan Rouke threw the game winning goal into our own net. Ain’t karma a bitch Marty? If Marty had played the last regular season game last year, he could have kept us out of the playoffs AND have 500 wins already.
No game this early in the season can be called “must-win” or “huge”, so I’ll just call this one “well-needed”. The Isles have played well and certainly had chances to win either of the past two games but didn’t. They needed to get two points on the road from the Devils who aren’t playing well right now and get their momentum back headed into the final game of this bus road trip vs. the Rangers Monday night.
While Tommy and I were busy drinking last night for his brother’s birthday (Happy 30th Ant!), the Orange and Blue took out the trash from Jersey 2-1 with Satan netting his third straight game winning goal. Another solid effort from the team – only 21 shots allowed and no penalties taken. I could get used to that. Speaking of penalties, a bench minor unsportsmanlike against one of Brent Sutter’s assistant coaches led to the 5-on-3 powerplay and the game winning goal, leaving a bad taste in the Devils’ mouths.
“All I’m going to say is that it was taken from behind the bench; it wasn’t a player,” Devils coach Brent Sutter said, refusing to identify which assistant drew the penalty. “It’s tough to lose a hockey game that way.”
“I don’t think they beat us,” Brodeur said. “Look at the two goals they got.”
“It was a [bleeping] terrible call. There’s no way around it,” the Devils’ Zach Parise said.
“I don’t think he needed to call that,” Jay Pandolfo said.
Isles hit the road for 4 of the next 5 games starting with Philadelphia tomorrow night. Check the recommended links for more info on last night’s game from the Blog Box crew.
[Update] Totally forgot to mention the Devils’ Marty Brodeur was going for career win number 500 last night.
