Islander hockey!

[$heriff Tom]

Right now there is not a lot of Islander representation here, but there will be.

Anyhoo, I was pleasantly surprised that the Islanders will be hosting a "Bob Bourne Hall of Fame Night" - when I was a wee lad, I was a Bob Bourne fan. Not hard to be, watching that dynastic Islander team. This is NOT a number retiring, it is simply another display for the plaza. The Islanders will also have a HALL OF FAME banner that will shoot to the roof.

Here are some Bob Bourne factoids....

WHERE BOURNE RANKS
NYI Top Ten Lists


Games
Bryan Trottier 1123
Denis Potvin 1060
Bob Nystrom 900
Clark Gillies 872
BOB BOURNE 814
Mike Bossy 752
Patrick Flatley 712
Brent Sutter 694
Bill Smith 675
Kenny Jonsson 647



Goals
Mike Bossy 573
Bryan Trottier 500
Denis Potvin 310
Clark Gillies 304
Pat LaFontaine 287
Brent Sutter 287
BOB BOURNE 238
Bob Nystrom 235
Derek King 211
John Tonelli 206



Assists
Bryan Trottier 853
Denis Potvin 742
Mike Bossy 553
Clark Gillies 359
John Tonelli 338
Patrick Flatley 328
Brent Sutter 323
Stefan Persson 317
BOB BOURNE 304
Derek King 288



Points
Bryan Trottier 1353
Mike Bossy 1126
Denis Potvin 1052
Clark Gillies 663
Brent Sutter 610
Pat LaFontaine 566
John Tonelli 544
BOB BOURNE 542
Bob Nystrom 513
Derek King 499



Shorthanded Goals
Anders Kallur 19
Butch Goring 18
Lorne Henning 18
Bryan Trottier 17
BOB BOURNE 16
Shawn Bates 12
Brent Sutter 12
Claude Lapointe 11
Denis Potvin 10
Zigmund Palffy 9


Game-Winning Goals
Mike Bossy 82
Bryan Trottier 68
Denis Potvin 44
Clark Gillies 41
Bob Nystrom 38
BOB BOURNE 37
Brent Sutter 37
Pat LaFontaine 35
Derek King 30
Mark Parrish 25
John Tonelli 29

[9]

WOW:

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Rick DiPietro re-signed with the New York Islanders on Tuesday, agreeing to a deal that reportedly will pay the No. 1 goalie $67.5 million over a record 15 years.

The Islanders scheduled an afternoon news conference to officially announce the contract that would keep DiPietro in the fold until 2022 when he would be 40.

The deal, first reported by Newsday, would be the longest in NHL history, topping the 10-year, $87.5 million contract the Islanders gave enigmatic center Alexei Yashin in 2001.

That was one of the contracts that sent NHL salaries soaring and led to the salary cap in the collective bargaining agreement that ended the lockout last year. It also saddled New York with a player that is nearly impossible to move and who takes up a big chunk of the team's $44 million maximum payroll.

DiPietro's deal is believed to be second only in length in North American sports to the 25-year pact Magic Johnson signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1981.

DiPietro was a restricted free agent this summer and couldn't be unrestricted for another two years. The reported deal would pay him $4.5 million per season, placing him eighth among goalies.

The top pick in the 2000 draft was 30-24-5 with a 3.02 goals-against average in 63 games last season with the Islanders, who missed the playoffs after three straight appearances.

It is the second big contract handed out to a goalie in two days as Nashville re-signed Tomas Vokoun to a four-year extension on Monday that will pay him $22.8 million.

Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin will be the league's highest-paid goalie this season at $6.75 million.

DiPietro and Islanders owner Charles Wang discussed a 15-year deal last summer after the NHL lockout when DiPietro expressed that he wanted to spend his entire career on Long Island.

But hurdles regarding insurance over the course of the contract killed those plans, and DiPietro agreed to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million.

Both sides were pressed to come to a new agreement quickly as the Islanders open training camp at the end of the week in Nova Scotia. Wang has a policy that players who aren't signed in time for camp won't play during the season.

DiPietro, exactly a week away from his 25th birthday, became the first goalie ever chosen with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft five years ago, after spending just one year at Boston University.

Although DiPietro's former backup goalie Garth Snow is now the Islanders' new general manager, this pact was undoubtedly handled by Wang -- who has created a front office by committee on Long Island.

It was this type of management structure that led to the firing of Neil Smith, who was let go just weeks after he took the job in the offseason and months before the Islanders were to play a game under him.

Smith balked at the delegation of authority and the system initiated by Wang, and was replaced by Snow -- who retired from his playing career with the Islanders -- on July 18.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

[$heriff Tom]

Sigh. While I am happy DiPietro is locked up for the foreseeable future (and well beyond, obviously) I wish to not get into the semantics of this deal. I dont understand why the Islanders always seem to want to pull these sort of contract caveats. But I will say that it was important to the fanbase to lock up DP, and thats what counts for now.

[elliejay21]

They should market that boy... every 13-21 year old girl on Long Island should know what he looks like & THAT will sell Islander tickets and pink fish sticks jerseys for the next 15 years...

[9]

Pink fish stick jerseys? I need to go fill a bucket with vomit now.

[elliejay21]

As sacreligious as it is, pink jerseys = $$$$$

[cactusjames]

DiPietro=overrated, Way to blow it in the olympics dick. LOL @ being signed until 2021.

[grover]

LOLOLOL!!! Unless he becomes Ken Dryden, this makes Yashin's deal look better.

Holy crap, 15 years? LOL!! Wang is out of his mind.

[$heriff Tom]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But keep in mind, the way salaries keep meandering up, in a couple of years (yet alone 10) a starting goalie at the going rate of 4 million a year will be a bargain. Soon enough there will be goalies making the money he will make in 15 years in the course of 6.

Bottom line, from all accounts, DP wanted to be an Islander for life, and Wang was very open to this.

[grover]

Yeah but if he bonks out he will be unmovable.

And how many 40 year old goalies are there in the league? Joseph? Belfour?

He's doen nothing to warrent a contract like that, and if he eats it the next few years the Isles will be eating cash. I mean, lock the kid up for a few years, see if he pans out to be what people thought he would be, but don't give him the world now.

Wang is out of control.

[elliejay21]

On January 27, 2006 Martin Brodeur signed a contract extension with the Devils that will pay him $31.2 million over six years, and in six years, Brodeur will be 40... just FYI, for comparison...

[$heriff Tom]

Lets also not forget that this year DiPietro will be the TENTH highest paid goalie in the league. In 5 years, he may be the 20th.

He got what he wanted, a chance to make a fortune while becoming the face of the team, while the Islanders got someone many think could be one of the stars in the pipes at a discount for up to the next 15 years. In 10 years DP will only be in his mid-30s. By year 12, it may be time to rue this, but 4 million dollars may very well be the LEAGUE MINIMUM at that time.

Again, it made me agog as well, but this is not the calamity a lot of people are trying to make it.

[grover]

Brodeur also happens to be one of the best goalies I've ever seen, and as of 2006 he's got 3 cups under his belt. DiPietro hasn't even won a playoff game yet.

It will be a steal if he reaches his potential, which he has not as of yet, and if he does what's to keep him from going "What the fuck did I do?" and start making contract renegotiation demands?

[cactusjames]

This is jumping the gun a little bit no? Since when does an unproven goalie deserve a 15 year contract? Great you guys aren't paying him much yearly but this guy hasn't proven shit yet, and I have a feeling the Islanders will be somehwere close to the basement this year and forseeable future, you know, since you guys let the inmates run the asylum. Not only are you stuck with an overrater goalie, you guys got a 1 year removed active goalie in Garth Snow as GM. I may be getting a little ahead of myself, but I think I'm going to enjoy this seson a lot more than last years.

If it wasn't for Patrick Roy, Brodeur would be the best goalie of all time. DiPietro is a bum.

[9]

James, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. DiPietro is far from a bum, but he is unproven, especially in the playoffs. He's got a ton of potential, and while I doubt he'll ever be Brodeur, I can see him becoming a very solid goalie. Much of his problem last season was the pathetic defense in front of him, which allowed way too many unobstructed, close-range blasts.

[cactusjames]

I know he's not a bum, I was just saying compared to Brodeur, yeah, DiPietro is a bum. But I don't think he's the worse goalie in the league, just the most overrated.

But that's just in my opinion.

[$heriff Tom]

First off, dummy, he is a 4 million dollar per year goalie right now. VERY FAIR price. He will still be a 4 million dollar per goalie in 3 years. By then, a steal. 4 million does not make much a dent in the salary cap when you compare what other teams are going to be paying their #1 netminders in the years to come.

You guys know enough hockey to know that DiPietro is a very good young goalie. He also has a tremendous upside. If he can learn not to wander so much, he will be even better. He is certainly no "bum."

Whatever. What the Islanders did is lock down a guy they are confident will be the face of the team down for a cheap annual salary. What DP got is security and the chance to be that face. In 3 years there will be goalies making in 5 years what DP will be making in FIFTEEN.

[cactusjames]

Read above your post.

[$heriff Tom]

Yeah, I did that. This is how much of an "overrated bum" DiPietro is, at this early stage in his career, playing in front of a ragtag defensive squad, and overall, not a great team. Its a nice resume for someone who just turned 25 this week.

He became the third goaltender in franchise history – and the youngest – to record 30 wins, finishing just two wins shy of the club record held by Bill Smith. DiPietro's 2005-06 record was 30-24-5 with a 3.02 GAA and a .900 save percentage. He also finished tied for sixth in the NHL in games played by a goaltender with 63 and was tied for eleventh in wins. In his four-year NHL career, DiPietro has played in 143 games with a record of 58-62-13, a 2.85 GAA and a .900 save percentage.

DiPietro represented the United States last winter at the Olympics in Torino. He started in four games and posted a goals-against average of 2.28 GAA. He was also a member of Team USA at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and the 2001 World Junior Championships. In 2001-02, his second season of pro hockey, DiPietro led the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Islanders, to the Calder Cup Final.

[MSBNYY]

This was a question I had about it. He certainly doesn't sound like he's the highest paid player in the NHL. I may not know much about hockey, but I would think that there would be some sort of balloon in salaries 15 years from now, or even 5-10 years from now, and assuming this guy is what he's supposed to be, it will be a very good deal for the Islanders.

Of course if this guy tanks or has a terrible injury, the Isles are screwed.

I just don't see why any team would sign a guy for that long.

[$heriff Tom]

Its simple. They signed him for that long cause they want him to be a lifetime Islander, and the face and identity of the team. Would you have killed the Yankees for offering Jeter a 15 year deal at much less money than he makes annually now, back in 1998?

Even a buyout of the last 3 years well down the line wont cost the Islanders too greatly...baseball teams end up eating 12 million contracts for one season! In 3 years he will probably be one of the lowest annully paid goalies in the league. He is already down to 8th or 10th, depending on the source. This deal works out for both parties.

[jwmcc]

I'm not really surprised at this deal, and with the cap there will probably be similar deals like this in the future.
Jw

[MSBNYY]

Would you have killed the Yankees for offering Jeter a 15 year deal at much less money than he makes annually now, back in 1998?

Is this goalie as big of a superstar as Jeter was in 1998? Jeter was practically the face of the Yankees when he got here in 1996. He was selling merchandise even more then than now. And they knew what they had in 1996. That's why they gave him #2. A single digit number.

He also won a championship (2--if you mean between 98 and 99). By then, he was already a proven winner and a proven person who could handle NY. So no, I wouldn't have killed them if they signed him for 15 years.

The fact that they signed him for 10 years isn't THAT far off.

Is this goalie THAT good? His record isn't THAT great. I would think for that kind of commitment, he'd have to be the best goalie in hockey, or one of them. Does his merchandise fly off the shelves? Is he the most popular Islander?

I honestly don't know, but a lot of that justifies the terms of the contract.

[$heriff Tom]

I am not automatically comparing him to Jeter. I will say, yes, he has "superstar potential." Key word - potential. Other key words.....where he is getting 4 million a season, Jeter would have been commanding 5 times that.

He has been a very good goalie for a very mediocre team. Feeling around the league is he has a very high window. He IS probably the most popular Islander right now. His name reverberates through the building nightly. He is also media-friendly, has the good looks and countenance a lot of the fan base eat up, and is tremendous in and around the community.

As Wang said, if he had a team of 20 of these types of guys, he would have a dynasty. In the next 10 years he will make 40 million. There will be goaltenders not as good as him, I bet, making that amount in 5 years time. This is a fair deal, even if he ends up being simply "solid" and not a superstar.

[MSBNYY]

I don't buy it. Something sounds fishy.

[$heriff Tom]

Here's a good fair take on things from NHL.COM's Shawn Roarke, who admitted that after a day joining in with others to give this the grand guffaw, it started to sink in for him how good this may be for both parties...


For years, DiPietro has paid lip service to the notion that he wants to be an Islander for life -- a bromide uttered by countless athletes until the money comes from another team. Suddenly, the seemingly unshakeable home-town allegiances are rendered meaningless as the lust for a new challenge becomes the new flavor of the month.

Tuesday, DiPietro took that temptation away, certainly leaving money on the table for long-term security with a team he loves. He signed a deal that has been offered, to varying degrees, for the past two years. Now, by the time DiPietro reaches his goaltending prime -- usually early-to-mid-30s -- his $4.5 million annual compensation will likely be chump change for elite-level goaltenders. But, he says, he can live with that.

"One of the biggest things for me is that you don't have to worry about your contract being up every year and having to fight for a new deal," DiPietro said Tuesday afternoon. "The comfort in knowing that not only does (owner) Charles (Wang) and (GM) Garth (Snow), but also the rest of the organization, feels that I'm their guy and they've got me for the next 15 years. Hopefully, we can do some great things."

If DiPietro continues to deliver on the promise that made him the No. 1 pick in the 2000 Entry Draft, and if the Islanders use their new-found salary-cap flexibility going forward to strengthen the team with wise free-agent signings, the potential for a prosperous union is certainly there.

But, those are some pretty big ifs, for sure. Will it happen that way. Nobody knows.

There is no denying that it has potential. The business of hockey is changing before our very eyes. The lockout, and the resulting CBA, have introduced a brave new world where salary-cap acumen is just as important as identifying and accumulating talent in assuring the long-term viability of a franchise. Money alone can no longer buy competitiveness. Now, it must be combined with a fair amount of shrewdness and a discerning eye to the future.

That is the way most businesses operate. And, it is the way that Wang -- a very successful businessman, by all accounts -- runs his other businesses. Now, he has imported that business model to his Islanders.

"I can't speak for other teams, but I think what we are trying to do is basically build the right foundation with the right kind of players, people that want to be here long-term and that we want to be here long-term," said Wang, who spearheaded the negotiations with DiPietro. "I don't know what the other teams are doing in the terms of long-term contracts, but if you are building a business, you want continuity, you want the same people to be working with you, you want the winners to be with you. That's what we're trying to do here."

Have they succeeded? Is DiPietro the right person to merit such faith? I don't know. Nobody will know for years to come. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. But, DiPietro believes and the Islanders believe, and that has to count for something.

"We did discuss it last year and it didn't happen for a variety of reasons," said Wang. "It just didn't happen, but our intent was there to do something longer term. Rick wanted to do something longer term. All the stars lined up right this season and I think it's a happy, happy day for all of us."

[$heriff Tom]

Islanders have their new TV color man. I must have seen or heard him along the line on OLN, but I dont particularly remember him. Interesting that they are "going young" again, as their new radio play-by-play guy is all of 26 years old.

Billy Jaffe, the new color commentator for Islanders broadcasts on FSN, is joining the team in Yarmouth to get to know everyone in the organization. Expect Jaffe to file reports for MSG's "Sportsdesk" from Nova Scotia. Jaffe, who has been an analyst on OLN's coverage of the NHL and a radio color commentator and studio host for the Atlanta Thrashers, is considered one of the up and coming young broadcasters in the game.

[Chris]

I get a laugh out of Jaffe over-emphasizing the phrase "...from BEAUTIFUL Nova Scotia...." at the end of each of his reports.

[Domi]

"Whooooo! Whooooo! Whooooo!"

How's that 15 years looking?

[$heriff Tom]

Well, the fact that Phoenix was on the power play for half of Dipietro's tenure in the nets did not help matters any. He also let himself go off his game, by hacking and slashing at guys going by and taking some of his regular roams too far out of the net. But the Islanders came on strong near the end and some good things came out of the game. I would hazard to say the Rangers would have had a different result if they were the ones opening up in Arizona, rather than playing at home in the Garden.

At least, unlike the Rangers, our goalie does not have nervous breakdowns when the games really count.