Comments for Banking on the Islanders at http://hockey.dobbersports.com , comment 1 to 3 out of 3 comments http://hockey.dobbersports.com Thu, 23 May 2013 04:43:47 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/17-archives-other-articles/3305-banking-on-the-islanders#comment-10427 For the record, I don't think that the Isles should buy out DiPietro. That would be a major mess. Why I do think it's a bad contract is because first his health has been an issue, but the team is invested in him for so long, they can't really pursue another franchise goaltender. So, all of their eggs are in DiPietro's basket, which brings me to the 2nd reason this is a bad contract. Unless DiPietro can turn back into a winning goaltender, the Isles are relying on someone who just isn't reliable. It's not the money that's the problem, it's the fact that they're invested in an average or sub-par goaltender for the length that they are. I hope RDP regains form and becomes a stellar goalie again (Dobber actually had RDP ranked #7 overall in his goalie rankings at one point if you can believe it), but I just don't know how likely it is. The team has been investing in older 1b type goalies (Biron, Roloson), but it wouldn't hurt to look into an up and coming goalie who is just tearing up the AHL right now or a highly touted goalie who's stock might be falling a tad (Chet Pickard for example). I completely agree that their cap space is great, and it's because they are giving their youth (and cheap contracts) plenty of ice time to develop, though some would argue it's too much ice time/responsibility. One key thing they've done is not invest a ton of salary into older players for extended periods of time. As soon as their young studs start really going off, they'll earn more money and there will be a new line of youngsters and ELC's coming up. My main point is that the Isles are bad now, yes, but they are in a perfect position to stockpile young talent and keep them for many years. Charles Wang is an idiot, so I'm not refuting that, but outside of the DiPietro and the Yashin contracts, the team isn't looking all that bad. They're just taking a little longer to develop, which isn't a terrible thing. - duballstar014 Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:43:51 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/17-archives-other-articles/3305-banking-on-the-islanders#comment-10425 I agree completely with the author of the article. The Islanders are a mess because of Charles Wang. While I respect where duballstar014 is coming from, I'd like to point out the Isles have the 2nd most cap space of any team in the league. I don't think the DiPietro contract is that bad when you consider its only a 4.5 million cap hit. If he was healthy this whole time it would be viewed as a bargain. To buy DiPietro out, it would only cost the Isles a cap hit of 1.5 million over, granted it would be for the next 20 years. Don't know if its worth it to do that, cause it only saves 3 million. And besides that, the DiPietro contract is not a bad contract because they have PLENTY of cap space, and hes injured so much its just a matter of time before he'll either a) retire or b) be put on LTIR which won't count towards the cap. The Isles only have one other player locked up beyond 2012-13 and thats Andrew MacDonald and his dirt cheap 550k cap hit. - The Hockey Hitman Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:19:35 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/17-archives-other-articles/3305-banking-on-the-islanders#comment-10416 In my opinion, the biggest problem the Islanders have right now is that they have Rick DiPietro locked up for another decade. It's not often that a team can win with an average or sub-average goaltender and unless DiPietro regains form, the Isles need a young goalie who can win them games. Roloson/DiPietro is just a band-aid. The next problem is that Yashin is on the payroll (and cap hit) until 2015. Yashin isn't a huge deal, but it's still a thorn in their side. Outside of those two things, the Isles have done a pretty good job recently of keeping their payroll slim and young. They'll take on veterans every now and then, but never locking them up longer than a year or two and they'll make bargain signings (Trent Hunter at $2m/year comes to mind). Next they have plenty of youth that just needs to develop together. I skated with Rhett Rakhshani when he was much younger and he was one of the best kids in CA at his age level. He's gone on to succeed at every level since then and he's doing phenomenal in the AHL right now. They're a young team that just needs time to develop. They might not put it all together as quickly as say the Penguins did, but they also don't have a Crosby and Malkin combo. The LA Kings are a similar team in youthful talent, but they have Quick and Bernier to fall back on. The growth was severely stunted by a couple bad contracts, but they're doing a good job by not panicking and adding unnecessary and costly pieces. I'd expect good things in 1-2 years, granted they somehow get a young goalie who can win games. There's plenty of them out there and sometimes they are quite cheap too...a waiver wire pickup could do the trick. - duballstar014 Thu, 09 Dec 2010 14:11:54 +0100