What the Puck? The Islanders' Senseless Contract

ByABC News
September 13, 2006, 9:04 AM

Sept. 13, 2006— -- One question in the wake of goalie Rick DiPietro's groundbreaking 15-year contract with the New York Islanders:

Why not longer?

Why not 20 years?

Or 25?

And why just DiPietro?

Owner Charles Wang has such a good track record in these kinds of matters, why not a 10-year deal for Arron Asham or Tom Poti or Alexei Yashin?

Oh, wait a minute, he already gave Yashin a 10-year deal. And look how lovely that's turned out for this once-proud franchise now reduced to a running joke both within the game and for those with a passing interest in the team.

The latest punch line was unveiled Tuesday afternoon, when it was announced that DiPietro, a goalie who has won zero playoff games, had been awarded the longest contract in the history of the game and what is believed to be the second-longest contract in the history of pro sports.

Ha, ha, ha. Ho, ho, ho. Stop it, you're killing us. Or is it just the franchise that's being rubber-chickened to death?

The theory emanating out of Charles Wang's Long Island bunker is that in the wake of the team's management fiasco of earlier this summer, wherein it hired Neil Smith as GM only to can him 40 days later and promote backup netminder Garth Snow to the post, DiPietro's long-long-term $67.5 million deal would be a sign of stability.

Ho, ho. Ha, ha, ha. Stop it. Really.

Just because a television station runs a "Three Stooges" marathon doesn't mean the program director is a genius. It just means he has more "Three Stooges" tapes than he knows what to do with.

And while we don't necessarily mean to draw a comparison between DiPietro and the comedic trio, there is certainly an element of the slapstick when it comes to this deal and this franchise.

"It means the owner is a moron," one NHL executive told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "It makes no sense. This is all about Charles Wang's ego."

The most salient point in this tragicomedy is that DiPietro simply isn't that good a goalie.

Former GM Mike (insert the descriptor "Mad" at your convenience) Milbury traded away Roberto Luongo and the chance to draft Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik so he could make DiPietro the first goalie taken with the first overall pick in 2000 in what was merely one of a handful of wretched deals that ensured the Islanders' perpetual mediocrity.