Rick DiPietro’s comments may have been taken out of context, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important. (Photo: BluesguyfromNY/flickr)

Anyone who can see themselves as a professional athlete, usually sees themselves as the center of the universe. They imagine the euphoria, the clench in the stomach upon winning a championship. They envision the flocks of fans waiting for a scribble on a sheet of paper.  The media scrums at their locker, the growing numbers of trophies on the mantle. The friendly roar of your home venue, and the welcome boos of an enemy crowd. The Hollywood-style wedding to a beautiful person. The beauty of it all.

They never stop to consider what they might do if it all goes wrong.

Seven years ago, Rick DiPietro was in that dreamer’s mindset as he signed for life and $67.5 million with the Islanders, a contract that changed NHL deals forever. Eight years ago, everyone thought it was insane, but began to do just the same thing soon after. Franchise player for life, here we come.

And then there were the injuries. And the surgeries. And the comebacks, in plural.

Now,  DiPietro is enduring bus rides and teammates ten years his junior. He’s in Bridgeport, Conn., with the Sound Tigers,  far from where he’d imagined he’d be at 31 years old. He should be on Long Island, or so he feels. The Isles thought differently, having waived him a week ago Tuesday. He voiced his feelings about that in an interview with News 12 Long Island’s Kevin Maher, and from that came a series of posts on Maher’s Twitter account that sounded the alarm all over the site’s hockey contingent.

“I thought about driving into a tree, off the Throgs Neck Bridge. There’s been a lot of dark times.”

That was the quote that raised Maher’s hackles, causing him to tweet that DiPietro has contemplated suicide. DiPietro later clarified, stating to other news outlets, including the New York Post, that he was being “100 percent facetious” with his statements, “bringing light to” the fact that his wife has provided an excellent support system during his three years in and out of commission.  The Post isn’t new to this scene, though — they’ve left hints that the netminder has experienced depression in the past.

And it’s only natural. When a general manager in the NHL spends time and breath telling you that you’re going to be a huge star on the biggest stage hockey has to offer, draft you No. 1, then signs you to a humongous deal a mere six years later when you’re just shy of 25, it’s only natural to feel shock, disappointment and maybe even depression, when you get injured time and time again. And go through multiple surgeries. And see other, sometimes younger, often times healthier and better, candidates take your spot between the pipes.

And, when it finally feels like you’re ready to go out there and prove that you still have what it takes, to turn around and find out that you’ve finally been cut loose would be heartbreaking. It might even be enough to push you to places you’ve never gone before in your mind.

Now, I’m not about to speculate on Rick DiPietro’s mental state. That’s between him and his doctors, and for me to even guess would be wrong. His comments about driving into a tree… if it was humor, it wasn’t funny. If it wasn’t humor, and he just wants to put minds at ease, then… I’m not sure. But going around calling him all ill-mannered things under the sun is no way to react.

As I stated in my initial post on the situation, DiPietro is a living, breathing, flawed human being. He’s capable of being depressed, making statements about it and then retracting said statements. It doesn’t matter who you are. Depression is indiscriminate.

He’s also capable of screwing up his words when it comes to talking about it. Kevin Maher’s just as much to blame for taking the words out of context, though honestly, it was extremely easy to come to that conclusion. This whole issue is reminiscent of what we say when we utter things we didn’t mean to — we clam up, say, “Oh no, I was just kidding,” and try to move on before anyone suspects. Which is why I still don’t feel assured that DiPietro is A-OK. But it isn’t for me to decide.

At any rate, we need to be okay with people, even people we don’t like, saying things like this. It isn’t right to dismiss it, belittle it, or laugh at it. The fact that so many people on Twitter were shocked and scared into reality upon reading Maher’s tweets is good; it lets me know that there are still many of us who aren’t desensitized to suicide or thoughts of it. And it reminds us that under all of the hair and the surgery scars, DiPietro is a real person who’s more vulnerable than he may have once believed.

Moral of the story? Remember who these people are.

Rick DiPietro’s interview with News12 Long Island contained some extremely personal details as to his mental health. (Photo: FrenchKheldar/flickr)

Today, Kevin Maher of News12 Long Island tweeted a few times previewing his interview with now-Sound Tigers goaltender Rick DiPietro, after he was waived by the Islanders on Tuesday.

Among other things, such as DiPietro’s feeling of having his heart “ripped out” upon learning he was being placed on waivers, was this comment:

DiPietro also admitted injuries, losing and fan hatred over the past 3 years made him think about killing himself at one point.

Seeing as people are still mocking him after learning this, I have one thing to say:

Depression and suicidal thoughts are not joke fodder. They are not funny. Far from it, actually.

I’ve seen, I know and I love people who experience these on a regular basis, as I’m sure many others out there do. Exaggerated or not, joking about it and putting it into a sarcastic context is not the answer to solving this.

DiPietro, though his career never started on LI, much less recovered, is a human being with hopes and flaws, just like the rest of us. And he deserves a modicum of respect. We don’t know what the past three years have been like for him mentally, so we shouldn’t take this lightly. At all.

The interview will be going live at 5 p.m. The Islanders are issuing a statement regarding DiPietro’s comments soon.

Edit: Now is a good time to mention that if you are in crisis and need help, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). 

The Maple Leafs lost last night, but look to bounce back against an Isles team that is worst in the league at home. (Photo: jbcurio/flickr)

The Islanders fell to 2-8 at home this season, with a 4-1 loss to the Bruins Tuesday night. They look to reverse their fortunes Thursday night against the Maple Leafs.

Storyline: Fort Neverlose has become Fort When-The-Heck-Are-We-Gonna-Win, as stated above. The Islanders have fallen fast from the Atlantic Division’s good graces based largely on this statistic, and seeing as the majority of their games have been on home ice this month, this doesn’t bode well for any small playoff hopes remaining.

Islanders: They lost a game they needed against Carolina once again and fell predictably to the perennial powerhouse that is Boston. Now, the Isles need to step up against a team they handled fairly well in their only other meeting on Jan. 24, a 7-4 win. Unlike last month’s win, however, they need to get the two points without having to storm back from a two-goal deficit. They also need to figure out how to get things going 5-on-5.

The Isles’ bench has made some adjustments for this game, as per Arthur Staple’s tweets – David Ullstrom comes out, Eric Boulton is in, and they’ve pushed Cizikas and Colin McDonald up to the third line with Michael Grabner. Joe Finley also replaces Radek Martinek on the blueline. Surely these changes reflect the presence of a certain #28 on the Maple Leafs’ roster, which… okay, make of that what you will, but it won’t change the fact that Boulton will get only his customary four minutes of TOI.

Evgeni Nabokov once again gets the start for the Islanders.

Maple Leafs: Toronto’s 6-4 in its last 10, but has dropped two of its last three, including a 5-2 loss Wednesday night to Montreal after which Randy Carlyle lamented his team’s “flat” play.  This game marks the second of a back-to-back, which could well be to the Isles’ advantage.

Nazem Kadri has been on a hot streak so far — he leads the Leafs in points with 18 in 21 games, and has a three-game point streak, with five assists in that span. Phil Kessel is close behind with 16, and James van Riemsdyk has scored eleven goals to date. In goal, James Reimer is rumored to be the starter; if confirmed, it’ll be his first game since going down with a knee injury over two weeks ago.

Injury Report: The Isles are without Brian Strait (ankle) and Jesse Joensuu (hernia), as well as Matt Carkner (groin). The Leafs are without Joffrey Lupul (arm).

Puck Drop: 7 p.m., MSG+, SNET-O.

Kevin Poulin, left, had a shaky start in his season debut, making 24 saves in a loss to Carolina. (Photo: Anastasia Reilly/flickr)

The Staal brothers combined for a pair of goals, and Bobby Sanguinetti scored the first of his career, as the Hurricanes came from behind to beat the Islanders 4-2.

The Islanders’ top line once again came through, logging heavy minutes and scoring two goals — one by Matt Moulson, the other by John Tavares — but it was to no avail. Though they held the Hurricanes to four shots in the second period, half of Carolina’s shots managed to get by Kevin Poulin, including a power-play goal (Eric Staal). When the Islanders did manage to get shots to the net, Cam Ward was equal to the task, finishing with 23 saves. Poulin, making his season debut, stopped 24 shots, got caught on a bad bounce to tie the game, and watched his team surrender yet another empty net goal, this time by Alex Semin. (You’d think after five of them that Jack Capuano would learn not to pull his goalie, but… afraid not.)

You would also think, given the fact that Casey Cizikas and Colin McDonald have combined for a couple of key goals in the past few games, that each of them would be getting a bit more than eight minutes per game, but I guess that isn’t the case either. As usual, Tavares and Moulson carried the bulk of the Isles’ minutes, with 21:07 and 19:33 respectively. But Capuano cannot rely on just these guys to carry the load. That seems to be the Isles’ offensive strategy at the moment, and it’s not working.

Same thing with Mark Streit — the guy’s getting 25 minutes a game, and captain or not, he needs less time to be effective. He’s 35 years old, and the Isles have younger defenseman to help pick up the slack. Streit finished with 25:08 TOI and a -1, with no shots. Last night, at around 23 minutes, he had two points and three shots on goal.

Overall, this is a sucker of a loss, and the Isles’ sixth loss of seven so far on home ice. They do it again on Tuesday night against Boston, who haven’t lost in a week and a half… hahahahaha. Joy. Until next time.

Evgeni Nabokov earned his 53rd career shutout Saturday against Buffalo. (Photo: Clyde/flickr)

After losing to the Sabres earlier in the month, the Islanders came out flying, shutting out Buffalo 4-0 at First Niagara Center. Four different Islanders found the back of the net, with both forwards and defensemen chipping in.

The first period of the game was scoreless, with the Isles spending more time in the Sabres’ zone, and finally the work paid off in the second period — Matt Moulson caught Mark Streit streaking toward the net and hit him with a pass in front, which the captain put home to break the scoreless tie. Marty Reasoner was also cutting to the net, making a (surprisingly) good offensive play to help set up the goal for Streit.

A minute later, Michael Grabner streaked down the left side, getting briefly tied up with a Sabres defender but breaking free just long enough to push the puck through Ryan Miller’s five-hole, making it 2-0. The goal was Grabner’s seventh of the season, and his first in four games.

The Isles doubled this lead in the third period, off of a fantastic individual effort from John Tavares and an insurance goal on the power play by Colin McDonald. It was then that the Sabres began to lose focus, letting frustration get the better of them.

Though the game remained (for the most part) civil, there was a fair delay as both sides got into a tussle, exchanging goalie interference and roughing penalties. It got so heated that Miller even got into the fray, after Matt Martin ran him in retaliation for Marcus Foligno running into Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov made his way down the ice to no avail, as the officials broke up the scrums along the boards.

Speaking of Nabokov, he was superb in this game, stopping all 35 shots faced and providing excellent goaltending during the first period stalemate and on the penalty kill. His glove was particularly good tonight, and was flashed often as the game progressed. For their part, the defense did their best to keep tough shots to a minimum, though they did get caught screening their own goalie at times. Nabokov finished with his 53rd career shutout in the NHL, and his first against the Sabres.

This is the first game in quite a while that the Isles have held a lead to win. I kept expecting another Toronto, or Tampa Bay, or worse, a Winnipeg, but a shutout win in regulation? That’s something special, baby. Not saying it’s going to happen every night or that this is suddenly a WONDERFUL TEAM, but… it’s encouraging.

Until next time.

Rick DiPietro may very well have seen his last start in the National Hockey League on Tuesday night after being placed on waivers Friday. (Photo: Dinur Blum/flickr)

Well, if you weren’t expecting it to happen, it happened.

The Islanders have taken their first step in waving goodbye to their former franchise goaltender by actually waiving him — placing him on them, that is.

Yep. Rick DiPietro is on waivers. Let that sink in for a second.

…

Good? Good.

The announcement came this morning and, according to Arthur Staple, comes with the intent of sending DP to the minors and recalling Bridgeport goalie Kevin Poulin. KP has a .906 save percentage and 3.16 GAA through 31 games played, and most recently coughed up four goals en route to a 5-3 loss to Providence (though he also made 36 saves). DiPietro’s arrival in Bridgeport may (oh, hell — will) put more pressure on ECHL call-up Kenny Reiter to perform well and consistently.

While ultimately, making this move is in the Isles’ best interest, I can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. His journey in the NHL has pretty much come to an end, and while yes, he was stubborn for trying to come back when it was clear he wouldn’t be able to… you can’t fault him for trying. How would you feel as a former No. 1 draft pick, knowing that no one had any more faith in you, but still trying to make it right? How would you react, being offered millions of dollars and job security for the almost the next quarter of your life? Pretty sure I would have signed on the dotted line, too. And despite everyone’s snarking and naysaying, he didn’t look like a perpetually broken goalie for at least parts of his two starts.

I wish I would’ve seen DiPietro redeem himself and become the goalie that everyone had imagined he’d be. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that will happen anymore. But maybe this is the clean break the Isles need. Now, they can focus on the future for real.

Frans Nielsen has 14 career points in 17 games played against Montreal. Maybe something will click for him again tonight at the Bell Centre. (Photo: Robert Kowal/flickr)

For the first time this season, the Islanders take on the Habs, at the Hell– er, Bell Centre in Montreal.

Storyline: The Isles are trying hard to stop the bleeding after a two-game losing streak, in which they’ve been outscored 8-1. Meanwhile, the Habs are in no danger of slowing down, winning their last five straight. Oh, goody.

Last Time: Last season, the Isles and Montreal split the series, with each team winning once on the road and once at home. The Isles managed one-goal games in each of their wins.

Isles: One goal. That’s all the Isles have managed, after scoring three on the Rangers and five against New Jersey. It wasn’t for lack of trying — according to Eric Hornick’s NYISkinny, the 38 shots taken on Tuesday in Ottawa are the most for the Islanders on the road this season, and the most the Islanders have had in any road game since December 2, 2011 (41 against Chicago).

The front office has decided on a laissez-faire approach to the roster, declining to trade or even call up players, which makes far from any sense to me — a shake-up could definitely help. But I’m not Garth Snow (thank goodness), so I guess I’m no one to be making decisions. Evgeni Nabokov should see another start in goal after giving up a seven-spot against Philly. He does not have a great record against Montreal (.898, 2.84 GAA).

Habs: C’est magnifique en Montreal… right now, anyway. After a lackluster 6-0 loss to Toronto, the Habs have rallied, though admittedly without a overwhelming amount of offense (they haven’t scored more than four goals at any one time during their win streak). With the exception of Tampa Bay, they’ve held their opponents to a goal or fewer since then as well.

Max Pacioretty is on a three-game points streak, with two goals and three assists in that span. Leading scorer Tomas Plekanec is over a point-per-game player against the Isles — 29 points in 28 games played. In goal, Carey Price is right — a 1.98 GAA and .925 save percentage so far this season.

Injuries: Rookie Brendan Gallagher has been out of the lineup for Montreal for  the past two games with a concussion. Former Isle Petteri Nokelainen is out as well with a back injury. The home team is still missing Brian Strait (ankle) and Matt Carkner.

The Sound Tigers are the latest team to take the You Can Play Pledge and fight prejudice in sports. (Photo: Doug Kerr/flickr)

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are the latest AHL team to take the You Can Play Pledge, vowing to end homophobia in the sport of hockey and promote acceptance of LGBT athletes everywhere.

They’re also holding a “You Can Play Night” on Feb. 23 against Manchester, in support of the You Can Play Project.

This is just another of a series of awesome moves the Sound Tigers have made to reach out to the community. View their video in the above link, and if you’re in the area and can make it to a game, be sure to use promo code “YOUCAN” to donate $5 from each ticket you purchase.

Lindy Ruff is now a free agent… should the Isles pursue the former Sabres coach? (Photo: Roswell Park/flickr)

It’s been a long while since I last wrote anything regarding the Islanders, and as usual, school and extracurriculars are to blame. But it certainly looks like I haven’t missed all that much.

The Isles are now 2-7 in the month of February, which is fitting given that they always manage to suck up the second month of the season no matter when it is. Their home record to date is an abysmal 2-6, with their last loss coming big — a 7-0 shutout against Philly (that I’m glad I missed). Oh, and did I mention their most consistent blueliner, Brian Strait, is now out of the lineup with a broken ankle? Yeah, that too.

So with this stage set, we learned earlier today that Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff had been fired. And almost immediately, the buzz began amongst Isles fans. Even David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period speculated that Isles GM Garth Snow might at least take a flyer on the now ex-coach.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. And the answer is… I don’t know.

Lindy Ruff has a strict defensive mindset, and that system has been implemented at a price. While the Sabres had their offensive heyday (mainly with Daniel Briere and Chris Drury in the lineup), they aren’t lighting anyone up with goals aside from the Bruins. And while Thomas Vanek is having a monster year so far, no one else is exactly stepping up to the plate offensively.

Looking at the Isles’ offense, there’s a lot of promise, but no finish. John Tavares and Matt Moulson work in tandem night in and night out, while Michael Grabner has his hot streaks, Josh Bailey hits his posts, and Kyle Okposo is struggling to fit in anywhere he can (which isn’t working out well for him). Right now, JT’s shouldering most of the load, which isn’t what you want to do with a 22-year-old kid, but until someone can get the most out of this offense, that’s how it’s going to be. Brad Boyes is hanging around for the ride; Keith Aucoin hasn’t done much after starting out impossibly hot. Offensive defensemen Mark Streit and Lubomir Visnovsky have been all too quiet — and while Lubo sparked something briefly in his first couple of games here, nothing has caught fire in the last two losses.

While we’re at it… blueline. Strait’s out six to eight weeks, which means basically the rest of the season. Streit has made some mistakes, Visnovsky’s performing well but can’t do it all himself. Travis Hamonic and Andrew MacDonald, usually pretty reliable, have been trying, but each is a -9 so far this year. And the Islanders are second-to-last in the league in goals allowed per game with 3.56, while the Sabres sit in 26th — not much better.

Team-wise, Buffalo is doing much better in terms of plus-minus than the Isles are. They’re a -5 to the Isles’ -19, but take that with a grain of salt — the Isles are in the Atlantic Division, aka the division where every team but one (guess who!) makes the playoffs each year. The Isles, therefore need someone with a strong defensive system in place.

Should that defense come at the cost of offensive output? Of course not. But let’s be real — Jack Capuano is in his third season with the Islanders, and for the third season straight, we’re seeing the same mistakes being made. It’s time for a change, no? And Lindy Ruff may well be that change. He’s got a winning record and a Jack Adams trophy under his belt, and took Buffalo to the playoffs eight times in his 16 years as head coach.  Why not?

(Fun fact: Only coach in NHL history with more games coached with the same team than Ruff? Al Arbour. Just saying.)

Until next time.

John Tavares can’t do it alone, guys. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

The third period continues to be the breaking point for the Islanders this year.

Despite all of their goals coming on the power-play, which is another story (this one of extremes), they lost. Despite a solid effort (in the first two periods, at least) by Rick DiPietro, they lost. And despite Jack Capuano begging them during a timeout to “wake up” (and perhaps, subconsciously, to save his bench job), they lost.

The Isles coughed up the lead three times and saw their hopes for two points vanish almost completely with a Jiri Tlusty goal thirty seconds into the last frame, as Carolina cruised to a 6-4 win at Nassau Coliseum. Tlusty went on to score an empty-netter, and everyone the Islanders had to focus on tonight — Alexander Semin, Eric Staal, and Jeff Skinner — got on the scoresheet. Former Islander Tim Wallace also tallied a goal, which had come in the first period.

Capuano deplored the lack of effort during post-game, speaking of how the team needs “all 20 guys” to give a consistent effort on the ice, but by now that line’s so played out I can see the holes all the way from Buffalo. There’s more to the story, which has now stretched to five games without a win, and it begins like this:

• the Isles turning over the puck 19 times
• John Tavares leading the way with five giveaways, a bit uncharacteristic of the golden child (though he did score a goal)
• one bad giveaway by DiPietro leading to the first Tlusty goal
• bad deflections off of Isles players in front leading to other goals
• four power-play goals after going 0 for their last 22 (Frans Nielsen, Tavares, Matt Moulson twice), but nothing coming at even strength
• the second line still struggling to produce offense after starting out hot in January
• a grand total of four shots in the third
• only two players — Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas — ending the night with an even plus-minus

And the list goes on. It doesn’t end with Capuano refusing to talk about the goaltending tonight, as much of Twitter’s Isles contingent was abuzz about post-game, but it has much to do with it as well. DiPietro crumbled along with the rest of the team in the third, and considering Evgeni Nabokov hasn’t been much better stat-wise (which probably led to this start for DP)… it’s not a good look. And Tavares, bless him, probably knows tonight was not his best effort. He’ll come out stronger next time, but he is not enough to carry the team.

The Islanders have to pick it up quickly, as they once again head to MSG for a meeting with the Rangers, who burned them well last week on the same ice. No word yet on what’s going to change (if anything), but I’d like to think a roster shakeup, complete with new call-ups, is in order.