The NHL world is abuzz over today's announcement of the NY Islanders re-signing goaltender Rick DiPietro to a 15-year, $67.5 million contract.

The response to this announcement from pundits and fans appears overwhelmingly negative. Not for the money DiPietro will recieve but the length of the deal, an astounding fifteen years, the second-longest contract in NHL history.

I can certainly understand the reaction. At 25, DiPietro has yet to prove he's about to join the ranks of the NHL's goaltending elite, and it's rare that a goaltender, even a starter, can sustain a career toward the age of 40, which is how old DiPietro will be when this contract expires.

There's already been more than enough analysis over whether or not this deal was worthwhile and questioning over the sanity of Islanders owner Charles Wang, so adding my two cents would merely seem like "piling on" at this point.  Suffice to say, I'm in agreement with those critical of this deal.

What I'm more interested in is what impact, if any , this contract could have upon the league, specifically, further contract negotiations between teams and players.

One thing this CBA has been renowned for thus far has been the increased length of contracts signed by RFA and UFA players. Where once deals of two-to-three years were the average, under this current CBA deals of four, five and six years are becoming more common.

So is it possible that the DiPietro contract could be the harbinger of deals to come, if not 15 year deals, then those of seven, eight, even ten years in length?

Depends on the player and the team.

We're not likely to see a lot of deals pushing ten years in length, but one shouldn't rule out the possibility.

Take the Washington Capitals and franchise player Alexander Ovechkin. The kid is only 20 and yet in his rookie season won the Calder, challenged for the Rocket Richard trophy and earned universal acclaim as the most exciting player to hit the NHL since Pavel Bure.

Would it be a stretch to assume the Capitals could make a ten-year, $80 million contract offer to Ovechkin to lock him up long term through his playing prime? Would it be unreasonable to believe Ovechkin wouldn't pass up an opportunity to earn $8 million US per season for the next decade, thus securing his financial future?

I'll bet more than a few Capitals fans would love to hear that deal announced today, and more than a few hockey sages would commend the club for doing so.

Don' t expect the DiPietro contract to be used as a comparable throughout the league, but don't be surprised if teams with genuine young superstars consider much longer deals to retain those players if it makes sense under their respective salary caps .