Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Rick DiPietro injured again just two days after Isles trade Dwayne Roloson; time to claim Michael Leighton?

rickdhurtagain

James O’Brien

For some players, we might as well consider it news when they’re not injured. In the NFL, it’s running back Fred Taylor and safety Troy Polamalu. For NBA fans, it used to be Grant Hill but now it’s Yao Ming.

In hockey, Marian Gaborik is high on the list, but New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro might be the new standard bearer for so-frequent-it’s-almost-funny injuries. Katie Strang and various other sources report that the often-hobbled netminder left tonight’s game against the Calgary Flames with what many believe is a groin injury.

(Some speculate that it might be a groin problem rather than his consistently wonky knees, but who knows?)

While even the most wishful thinker shouldn’t be surprised by this news, it stings a little more considering the fact that the Islanders recently traded their “real” starter Dwayne Roloson to Tampa Bay on Saturday. The prevailing wisdom on Twitter is that the Islanders might want to consider claiming Michael Leighton off of waivers since the Flyers placed him there because of their crowded crease thanks to the unexpected early rise of Sergei Bobrovsky. It would be quite the journey for Leighton, who would go from Carolina Hurricanes cast-off to Stanley Cup runner-up with the Philadelphia Flyers to a basement backstopper with the Islanders. If that happens, of course.

We’ll keep you updated on DiPietro’s injury - as well as whether or not the Islanders/some other team decides to claim Leighton - in the next day(s) or so.