Note to John Curry: it pays to be a Boston University goalie.
Just ask Rick DiPietro, one of Curry’s recent predecessors between the pipes at BU. DiPietro made history yesterday by signing a 15-year contract extension with the New York Islanders, according to ESPN.com. The contract, worth $67.5 million, is the longest in NHL history.
The signing is the latest in a bizarre series of events that have affected the Islanders since DiPietro left BU after his freshman season in 2000. The team made DiPietro the first goalie to be taken number one overall in the history of the NHL draft that year, but since that time, he has mustered only a losing record of 58-62-8.
Regardless, recently appointed general manager and former Islanders teammate Garth Snow pulled the trigger yesterday on the extension, keeping DiPietro under contract until 2021, when he will be 39. The deal is reportedly worth $4.5 million per year, and can only be negated if DiPietro officially retires from the league, according to ESPN.com.
During his career at BU, DiPietro left a lasting mark, going 18-5-5 with a 2.45 goals-against average. He was named Hockey East Rookie of the Year in 2000, but was perhaps best remembered for his Beanpot MVP performance in which he recorded a tournament-record .981 goals-against average, stopping a combined 52 shots in a 4-0 win over Harvard University and a 4-1 victory over Boston College.
He hasn’t seen that same success as a pro, however, allowing just fewer than three goals per game. This past season he sported a mediocre 3.02 goals-against-average in 63 games, saving only 90 percent of the shots on net.
While DiPietro’s new salary does reflect his career numbers–the deal gives him only about three times the average league salary per year, and makes him the eighth-most expensive goalie in the NHL–the sheer length of it has never been matched in league history. At the very least, it’s a long way from his current one-year deal, worth $2.5 million.
And it’s certainly a long way from BU.