Islanders Sign Wade Dubielewicz, Rick DiPietro Likely Done for Season

The bad news continues to pour in for the New York Islanders on Thursday, as Greg Logan reports the team has signed goaltender Wade Dubielewicz to a one-year, $500,000 deal. Such a move would likely indicate Rick DiPietro, out for much of the season with a knee injury, will be shut down for the remainder of the season.

The Islanders goaltending situation is a mess right now, as DiPietro's absence, combined with the recent injury to Joey MacDonald, leaves New York with Yann Danis and Peter Mannino as its options in net for Thursday night's game against the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins. Good luck, gentlemen, you'll need it.

Dubielewicz played 37 games (including 27 starts ) for the Islanders over the previous four seasons, and was most recently playing with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL before having his contract bought out. As for his career in the NHL, he's posted a 16-13-1 record to go along with a .920 save percentage.

DiPietro is under contract until the 2021 season, when cars will fly and television shows will be beamed directly into our brains, thanks to the gigantic 15-year extension he signed in September of 2006.

While this is all bad news for New York right now -- I think it qualifies as bad news when Yann Danis, Peter Mannino and Wade Dublielewicz are your goalies for the foreseeable future -- it's best to look on the bright side if you're an Islanders fan. I know, it's difficult to find a bright side when your team is currently the worst in the NHL, having lost five in a row and 19 of its past 22, but I assure you there is a bright side.

The Islanders are now pretty much a lock to come away with either Canadian phenom John Tavares, or Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman in this year's NHL Entry Draft.