DePietro Gets 15-Year Deal

Rick DiPietro must have wished on the right shooting star, picked up a penny heads up or maybe blew out the candles on his 25th birthday cake a little early this year.

You can see his grin from ear to ear a mile away (that's almost two kilometers for my friends up north). He's got that little extra spring in his step that says, "I'm a happy man."

Rick Dipietro signed an almost-unheard-of 15-year, $67.5 million contract with the New York Islanders today. The contract will pay DiPietro $4.5 million a year for the next 15 years.

General managers around the league have spoken to the press under anonymity saying things like they feel "amazement" and another said, "They're trying to protect themselves from that $7 million salary, but quite honestly, it's an absolutely ridiculous thing to do."

"Crazy," one NHL GM told TSN. "Just (expletive deleted) crazy."

Islanders co-owner Charles Wang wanted Rick DiPietro in an Islanders sweater for a long, long time, and he got it. DiPietro will now be an Islander until he is just shy of his 40th birthday.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Wang got a player for the long haul. In 2001, the Islanders signed Alexei Yashin to a 10 year, $87.5 million contract. So now they have two players that they're stuck with through thick and thin.

I personally don't see the logic in signing a 25-year-old kid to that long of a contract worth that much. As others have pointed out, what motivation is he going to have now?

For good or ill, the Islanders are stuck with him. Choose your dance partners carefully. You can end up with a long, slow dance and a partner that likes to step on your feet.