In the 06-07 season, the first after signing the huge deal, he played in and started 62 games. He had 32 wins, a 2.58 save percentage, a .919 save percentage, and 5 shutouts. Overall a very good season. Toward the end of this season however, the injuries started to pile up. In March of 2007, DiPietro suffered a concussion in a game with the Canadiens, which caused him to miss somes games. When he came back, DiPietro played four games, but suffered another concussion in a game with the Rangers, which caused him to miss the remainder of the regular season. DiPietro did return for the Islanders postseason series with the Buffalo Sabres. During the 2007 offseason, he had had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip.
DiPietro rebounded the 07-08 season and played in 63 games. He had 26 wins, a 2.82 goals against average, a .903 save percentage and 3 shutouts. Overall not a bad season, but his numbers were down across the board from the previous season. During this season, DiPietro was selected to participate in his first NHL All-Star Game. During the skills competition, the night before the All-Star Game itself, DiPietro was mic'ed up so that he could communicate with the Versus television commentators. During one of the events, those watching on Versus heard DiPietro say "I just fucked my hip up." In March, with the Islanders well out of the playoff picture, DiPietro was shut down for the remainder of the season so that he could have another surgery on his hip. He also had surgery in June to repair a torn meniscus on his left knee.
Here is where the story about such a once promising young goaltender starts getting sad. DiPietro did not play the first four games of the 2008-09 season (even though he was on the bench serving as the backup). His return however didn't last very long. He left again during the first period of only his third game back, requiring surgery for another injured meniscus. He would later return, but again the return would be short lived. DiPietro was shut down for season again in late January due to post surgical swelling in his right knee. All in all, Rick played in and started five games, with only one win.
The 09-10 season sadly wasn't much better. DiPietro returned in January, only to be shut down again in early February. He was shut down again for the season, this time due to swelling in his left knee. Overall he started 7 games, played in 8, and recorded two wins, one of them being a shutout, for the season.
That brings us to our current season. At the start of the season, DiPietro was supposedly healthy and ready to share time with teammate Dwayne Roloson. DiPietro was placed on injured reserve (IR) in mid-December, again due to swelling in his knee. He returned late in the month and recorded a 2-1 shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Two days later, Roloson was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, giving the starting job back to DiPietro.
That brings me to Wednesday, when the Islanders were again playing the Penguins. With about 18 seconds remaining in the third period of a game the Islanders were losing 3-0, DiPietro was involved in a collision with Penguins agitator Matt Cooke. As a result of this collision, which DiPietro got up from, several Islanders players rushed to his defense. After some cross-ice gesturing, DiPietro decided he was going to go at it with Penguins (backup) goaltender Brent Johnson. Considering his recent history, DiPietro should second guess such an action, but did he? Nope.
Before getting to the fight itself, let's check out the tale of the tape...
Rick DiPietro
Age: 30
Height: 6-1
Weight: 210
Shoots: Right
Reach: ?
Brent Johnson
Age: 34
Height: 6-3
Weight: 196
Shoots: Left
Reach: "He has long arms." - DiPietro
As for the fight and incident itself, it can be seen in its entirety here (including the collision with Cooke that started it all). For those not checking out the video, lets just say that it wasn't pretty. It was a one punch knockout in favor of Brent Johnson. Ok, it wasn't really a knockout, but it was enough to end the fight. As a result, DiPietro suffered some facial fractures that will require him to miss 4-6 weeks. Knowing DiPietro's recent history, I would expect him to be on the high side of that 4-6 week scale.
Before the injury, DiPietro was having a decent season, based on his recent play. He played in and started 21 games, which is almost double his previous two seasons combined. He has 7 wins (one via shutout), a 3.36 goals against average and a .890 save percentage.
I'd like to wish Rick DiPietro a speedy and full recovery and hope to see him at his top form some time in the near future.
All references to DiPietro's injuries can be found in the Rick DiPietro wikipedia page.
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