On 15-Year Contracts in the NHL.

I read a headline on nhl.com today and immediately rolled my eyes.

"DiPietro Out 4-6 Weeks."

A little history on Rick DiPietro- an injury plagued New York Islanders goaltender.

Back in September 2006, DiPietro signed an eye-opening NHL contract with the Islanders worth 67.5 million dollars and more notably the contract length: 15-years.

He earns 4.5 million each year until 2021, but those figures are not the real reason my eyes roll every time I see his name in the headlines.

My eyes roll to the back of my skull because of the amount of injury time lost since he signed this outrageous contract with the Islanders.

Of the six years DiPietro has played since signing the monster deal with the Islanders the Winthrop, Mich. native has played just 163 games.

The average No.1 goaltender will play about 60-70 games per season so let's do the math.

Six seasons times 65 games (Average amount of NHL games a No.1 goalie should play) is 390 games.

390 games subtracted from 163 games (DiPietro's total games played) is 227 games.

He has missed an insurmountable number of games due to injuries but who is to blame for the unearned salary cap hit each season?

The Islanders GM Garth Snow, that's who.

Snow offered a goalie who had a respectable 30 wins but a meager 3.02 GAA in the previous season- 15 years... quite the brain scratcher.

I don't want to harp and pick on DiPietro but when a player is earning disgusting amounts of money each year for a decade and a half to rehab and cheer-lead a team that continues to dwell in the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and loses revenue each year because the fans are giving up on the team... it annoys me.

Let's just hope the ridiculous unearned contracts of the DiPietro's and the Kovalchuk's of the league become just a black mark in NHL history and not a trend in the future.