FanHouse WadeDubielewicz

Former Ottawa Senators goalie Ray Emery hasn't been having a good time in Russia lately. It wasn't that long ago that Emery went bonkers and attacked his team's physical therapist after getting pulled from a game. Now, word has leaked that Emery is upset about his salary. Things have gotten so bad that Emery didn't return to Mytishchi Atlant following the KHL's break last week, and the club is threatening legal action.

Earlier this week, you may have heard that the New York Islanders signed Wade Dubielewicz, a netminder who had been with the team last season but signed with a KHL team in the off-season. You may have also heard that this was because the Islanders' top two goalies, Rick DiPietro and Joey MacDonald, have been lost to injury. You may have also heard that "Dubie" was supposed to be the backup goaltender for the Islanders tonight at the Coliseum when they square off against the New Jersey Devils.

Well, it turns out that there's one rule in the CBA that almost all of us haven't heard about.

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.

Today, Newsday is reporting that the Islanders are going to part ways with a few of their key free agents and go into 'youth movement mode'. You may remember this tactic from former Islander teams such as, the entire 1990s. The only difference this time -- and it's a big one -- is that Mike Milbury is not at the helm of the ship. Maybe, hopefully, this will work out a bit differently.

In an interview with Newsday, Islanders GM Garth Snow noted that the team would not tender qualifying offers to Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko and Josef Vasicek. That means that they will all be on the open market come the start of the free agent signing season on July 1. Backup netminder Wade Dubielewicz was also be on the free market but that is because he was not able to come to terms with the Islanders. Snow said that the team made the netminder "a significant offer that he turned down."

The thinking behind the move is to give more playing time and opportunities to youngsters such as Kyle Okposo, Blake Comeau, Jeff Tambellini, Bruno Gervais, Sean Bergenheim and more. All of these kids spent time with the big club last season but most of them either spent most of their year in the AHL with Bridgeport or sitting behind the trio of unproductive veterans.

"I don't want to be in a situation where I compromise the ice time of some of our younger players who we're committed to giving the opportunity to make the team," Snow said. "If we start loading up with too many bodies, then that squeezes out some of our young guys. I don't want to do that."

Satan played 80 games on Long Island this season but finished the year with only 16 goals and 41 points, the lowest and third lowest marks of his career respectively. The winger had previously scored at least 25 goals in each of the past eight seasons.

Giving more playing time to the kids is great, especially with the good core of young forwards the team has. But sometimes you have to clean up and get rid of the driftwood, too.