I DIDN’T MEAN IT: Former Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro said he has not considered killing himself and knows he shouldn’t have made comments alluding to suicide to a News 12 reporter. (AP)
Nobody who knows Rick DiPietro ever will accuse him of possessing an overwhelming amount of tact.
But yesterday afternoon, six days after the Islanders’ former franchise goaltender was placed on waivers en route to the minors, his dark sense of humor was taken out of context to the point where he was getting calls and texts from family members worried for his well being.
In an on-camera interview with Kevin Maher of News 12 Long Island, DiPietro was as candid as always in admitting the past couple of years have been a tough time, playing just 50 games in the past five seasons because of an assortment of injuries. He then went on to say if it had not been for his wife, Cassandra, there were times “I thought about driving into a tree, off the Throgs Neck Bridge.”
Maher took that to mean DiPietro had contemplated suicide, and when he tweeted as such early in the afternoon, the firestorm began. When reached on the phone by The Post, DiPietro said he was being “100 percent” facetious, and he has never thought about killing himself.
“I’m just trying to bring light to the fact how important my wife has been,” DiPietro said. “It’s been a trying last couple years. There have been times that I’ve been depressed, and I don’t know where I’d be without the support of my wife.”
DiPietro has opened up about his depression before, including to The Post before last year’s training camp. He has off-handedly made these kinds of jokes before, and now knows they should not be taken lightly.
“Never again,” he said.
Since reporting to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) on Tuesday, DiPietro has practiced three times, and could get his first start tonight when the team plays host to the Connecticut Whale, the Rangers’ affiliate. General manager Garth Snow said in a statement DiPietro’s demotion was so he can play “a lot more games, ” and the franchise is “aware of Rick’s comments and the severity of them. We will handle them internally as we do with all player matters.”
Yet solace is not readily available for the 31-year-old netminder.
“They [the Islanders] ripped my heart out, stabbed it, set it on fire and flushed it down the toilet,” DiPietro said in the News 12 interview.
After this season, DiPietro has eight more years left on his 15-year, $67.5 million contract, which pays him $4.5 million a year regardless of where he plays. DiPietro said he was unsure if he’s in the future plans for the franchise, and an amnesty buyout would be an option if the franchise wasn’t so close to the salary-cap floor.
“I’m not even really sure,” DiPietro said. “It’s like I’m in the middle of a dream. I’m not really sure it’s really sunk in yet.”
The starting goalie for the U.S. Olympic team in 2006 has had surgeries on his knees, hips and face, and also has missed time with concussions. Now that he’s ostensibly healthy, the road back to the NHL will start in earnest from the ground up.
“I was so focused on the physical for a while, especially when you’re hurt, that it’s the mental edge that takes the longest to get back,” DiPietro said. “That full 60 minutes of intense focus and concentration, that’s the stuff that comes later, and that’s what I’m working on.”