On Wednesday, the New York Islanders announced that they would utilize their first compliance buyout under the new CBA to rid themselves of the cap hit of goaltender Rick DiPietro. The goalie reacted by telling Newsday that he was "disappointed" by the move.
"It's disappointing, obviously," DiPietro said Wednesday. "You know in the salary-cap era after the lockout, it would take a while for some teams to rebuild. The Islanders have obviously gotten to the point where you're finally starting to see that come to fruition. The most disappointing part is that I'm not going to be a part of it."
The netminder struggled with injuries over the last few seasons; he only made 50 appearances in net in the past five years. The former first overall pick in 2000 had signed a 15-year contract with the Islanders to be their franchise netminder, but was unable to keep himself healthy. He played three games in the 2012-13 season before being sent down to the AHL to play for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Now DiPietro must look for another chance from another team.
"I got to work on getting better as a goalie and getting into a rhythm of playing a ton of games instead of just trying not to get hurt," he added. "It helped me."
"It's bittersweet, really," DiPietro concluded. "It was a great 13 years, I had a ton of fun, there were some great times and some bad ones. I can't say enough about how much I appreciate everything [owner] Charles [Wang] and the organization did for me. I'll miss it a lot."
The Islanders will have to pay $24 million ($1.5 million per year through 2028-29) to buy out the deal.
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