Rick DiPietro Signs In Germany/New York Notables

Scriesersee.de: Reports Rick DiPietro has signed in a German League and will have a press conference with their season opening on 10/14.

NYIFC Comments:
This blog has not been covering the many NHL Islander players signing in Europe/KHL. (sidebar links have been following transactions) DiPietro is a little different because no one on the current roster needs to play hockey more, and this is his chance to work off the game rust that practice does not provide.

Obviously DiPietro/agent secured the necessary insurance of his NHL contract, however any sustained injury means if a lockout were settled, the Islanders would no longer be required to pay the remainder of his contract if he were hurt playing in another league.

Of course the same holds true for all players.

What this blogger wants most is Rick DiPietro with the rust off his game, finally ready to return to the franchise goaltender/all-star he was in 2007-08.

New York Roster:
To the best of my knowledge Evgeny Nabokov, Matt Moulson, Brad Boyes, Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey, Marty Reasoner, Eric Boulton, Matt Carkner are the current New York Islander roster players yet to sign with a team in a European/North American league not counting their unsigned departed UFA.

Bridgeport Roster:
Travis Hamonic, Nino Niederreiter, David Ullstrom, Casey Cizikas, Matt Donovan, Calvin deHaan, Aaron Ness, Ty Wishart, Anders Nilsson, Kevin Poulin are in Bridgeport.

Ryan Strome, Griffin Reinhart/draft picks are in juniors or college/europe.

NHL/NHLPA Negotiations:
Things are running as expected with Donald Fehr, threatening to repeal the salary cap which means get ready for what will likely be a season without NHL hockey.

Media Game:
 Market-based media are doing the sales job selling what suits their career/editor's interest as the selective reporting standards are frankly disappointing.

It's disingenuous some media speculate on what franchises are profitable vs which ones spend more to lose more only looking at revenue which this blog contends often is not profit or a sustainable business model.

I guess for those media if a billion dollar company can lose 20-30m a year for a sports team/trophy purchase, it's survival of the richest corporations if it's the team they cover. 

Big Market/Small Market
There are no big hockey markets in the US, unless you want to include markets with no competition from other sports.

New York is invisible in terms of hockey.