Isles Place Rick Dipietro On Waivers

 photo courtesy of http://www.nyhockeyjournal.com/

Update 3: According to Newsday, Rick Dipietro won't report to Bridgeport until next week.  The Islanders gave Dipietro permission to take the weekend for himself and he is expected to join Bridgeport next week.  In the meantime, Bridgeport signed their goalie coach Steve Valiquette to a PTO to serve as Kenny Reiters backup until Anders Nilsson is healthy.

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Update 2: According ESPN NY, the Islanders may buy out DP this offseason without using the compliance buyout so his cap hit still counts against the cap floor.  His cap hit would be 1.5 million every season for the next 16 seasons. 

"On Rick DiPietro’s future with the New York Islanders, an unnamed team executive in the NHL tells Pierre LeBrun: “You would think they will buy him out after this season. If they do, they might not use the transition buyout so that his buyout counts against the floor going forward.""

 http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/clutterbuck-speaks-dipietro-future-nhl-player-safety-behind-205852934--nhl.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

If this actually happens then shame on our owner!  I wonder if people who have defended him all this time would start to jump off his bandwagon if he did that.

Update: According to Newsday, barring injury, the Islanders have no intention of recalling Dipietro from Bridgeport this season.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/islanders-place-rick-dipietro-on-waivers-1.4692373?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

This afternoon, many fans were pleasantly surprised when they read that the Islanders had placed Rick Dipietro on waivers.  Speculation has already begun that this is an indicator of a summer buyout thus ending Dipietros Islander career.

When Dipietro clears waivers tomorrow, he will be sent down to Bridgeport and Kevin Poulin will be called up to backup Evgeni Nabokov.

If this truly signifies DP's end with the Islanders, then it is a good first step for the front office to make to show they care about putting a winning team on the ice.  How they proceed this summer will be telling.