With Bobby Bonilla Day approaching, one shouldn’t forget that former NHL goalie and first overall pick Rick DiPietro is still getting a nice lump of cash himself, despite not playing in 12 years.
In fact, Rick DiPietro is getting paid more per year than the six-time MLB All-Star.
For those unfamiliar, the New York Mets wanted to release Bonilla and pay out the final $5.9 million owed on his deal. But the two sides agreed to an interesting deal, where the Mets would pay his remaining money over 25 years from 2011 to 2035, plus eight percent interest.
In short, the Mets have been paying Bobby Bonilla just over $1.193 million every year on July 1 since 2011, and he’ll continue to collect the seven-figure paycheck for another decade.
While “Bobby Bonilla Day” is a popular talking point among baseball fans, though, sports fans may not know that the first overall pick of the 2000 NHL Draft himself is getting paid even more on an annual basis.
In 2006, the New York Islanders stunned the hockey world when they signed goalie Rick DiPietro to a lucrative 15-year contract extension worth $67.5 million. Unfortunately, a lengthy string of injuries prevented him from living up to that deal, and he was bought out by the Isles in the 2013 offseason.
As noted by Jamie Johnson of talkSPORT, the Islanders are paying DiPietro $1.5 million annually through 2029. And here sports fans poking fun at the Mets for paying Bonilla!
What is it with New York-based sports teams signing players to regrettable contracts and then agreeing to the strangest buyout payments? Hey, moves like this have kept both the Mets and Islanders away from championship glory since the ’80s.
Rick DiPietro Was Limited To 318 NHL Games
DiPietro helped the Islanders to playoff appearances in 2004 and 2007 and finished with two 30-win seasons. He showed signs of becoming a superstar in 2006-07, when he boasted a .919 save percentage and 2.58 goals against average.
After the 2007-08 season, however, DiPietro only appeared in 50 more NHL games. It’s truly a shame that injuries derailed his career, because DiPietro looked poised to become one of the league’s best netminders of his era.