Doobie will lead the Isles to the first pick in the draft.
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Newsday.com
DiPietro's season done; will have hip surgery
BY GREG LOGAN
March 19, 2008
For the second time in two seasons, Islanders franchise goaltender
Rick DiPietro will have season-ending hip surgery. The operation will
take place today at Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., an NHL source
said, and DiPietro is expected to recover in time for training camp in
September.
Dr. Marc Philippon, who performed surgery on DiPietro's left hip last
spring, will operate on his right hip this time. Considering DiPietro
just completed the second year of his 15-year contract, his health now
moves to the forefront of the Islanders' concerns.
DiPietro returned from surgery last season as one of the best-
conditioned athletes in the Isles' training camp. He suffered a mildly
sprained knee near the end of December but returned after missing four
games and played well enough to earn his first Eastern Conference All-
Star berth.
During the skills competition Jan. 26 while wearing a microphone for
television, DiPietro was heard complaining about hurting a hip. He
hasn't been 100 percent since, but he indicated it was the kind of
thing he could play through. He still might be playing if the
Islanders were in contention for a playoff berth, but since they
aren't, the decision was made to have the surgery and get a jump on
the recovery period.
DiPietro played 63 games, compiling a 26-28-7 record with a 2.82 goals-
against average and a .902 save percentage. Wade Dubielewicz started
in the Islanders' 3-1 loss to Toronto last night at the Coliseum.
"He's been having it for a while," coach Ted Nolan said of DiPietro's
injury yesterday morning before the full extent of his condition was
revealed. "It's the same as our team. We have nine guys out of the
lineup. It's one of those things where the injury bug hit us, and
unfortunately, it hit Ricky."
Nolan criticized DiPietro for a couple of puckhandling errors in a
loss last week at Tampa Bay. The goaltender shrugged it off, and Nolan
said the next day that DiPietro probably always will handle the puck
more than he would prefer but that you have to let him be himself and
adjust. But the story in Canada has been that Nolan might lose his job
because of a split with the goalie.
"I heard that up in Montreal a couple days ago," Nolan told Toronto
re****ters yesterday, "and I pulled Ricky aside and said, 'I'm not
supposed to be talking to you. I guess we're fighting.' He's probably
one of the more talented, gifted, fun players I've ever coached in my
life. So there's just no problem."
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