| Boston has back to back games coming up, Philly on Monday and Toronto on Tuesday (jesus, it seems like we've played Toronto about 9,454 times already this season). I'm guessing that "The Toivonator" will get one of those two starts. No idea which. In theory, Philly would be an easier test for him, but then again, Philly did smack around both the Wings and the Rangers in the past week. Who knows.
The Isles have been so badly mis-managed over the past decade, you could build a decent all-star team with players they've let go. DiPietro had one strong season at BU, then jump shipped for the NHL. The Isles made him the #1 overall pick in the draft, sent Luongo packing to make room for him, and have hung their hopes on him ever since. In a way, he reminds me of Vinny Lecavalier. Vinny was the #1 pick in 1998, and the Lightning owner declared that Vinny would be "the Michael Jordan of hockey". He was made captain of the team at the age of 19 (which was later rescinded). Way too much hype, way too soon. He's never lived up to that level, this is his eighth NHL season and it's really the first season he's come close to stepping up and living up to the hype. It's been a source of amusement in this neighborhood for a while, because Lecavalier has this big cloud of "he's a #1 pick, he's a superstar, he's the next big thing" that follows him around everywhere, when the Bolts go on the road the other team's announcers all talk about Lecavalier, the other team's media all focus on him, it's all Vinny Vinny Vinny. And despite the hype, he has yet to live up to the level of play established by his undrafted, free agent, Hart Trophy / Art Ross Trophy / Pearson Award winning linemate Martin St Louis. This year he's stepped up, he's currently second in the league in scoring (one little point ahead of St Louis). Needless to say, we're a bit biased up here, but there's a fair bit of "Vinny scminny" attitude in these parts. Regardless, there aren't too many players who jump to mind who took longer than Vinny to finally come close to living up to the advance billing. Eight seasons (nine if there were no lockout) is a long time, but he's finally getting there. Maybe DiPietro will also get there eventually. Who knows. I think he'll be good, but I wouldn't be surprised if how good he is now is as good as he ever gets. Even DiPietro's save percentage is only 10th best in the league. Is he a strong goalie? Sure. Is he the best in the league? No. Regardless of stats, if I needed a goalie I'd take Brodeur (ol' reliable), Kiprusoff, Miller, Huet, Luongo, or Lehtonen (stats aren't quite there yet, but huge upside) over The Rick. Despite the nauseating amount of hype, I'd probably suck it up and take Fleury over The Rick too (there's another goalie who has a level of hype which is disproportionate with his on-ice performance). Hell, maybe Mason and Backstrom will turn out to be real, too.
FYI, I just edited the Wikipedia entry for DiPietro. Someone had actually inserted the phrase "The greatest goalie to ever play" into his career summary. Couldn't make it up if I wanted to.
Tonight I have my first game with the new "stick condom". We'll see if it makes any difference (or if I even notice it).
-Ricardo
"2 minutes by yourself and...you feel shame, you know...and then you get free" | 
