The New York Islanders placed the goaltender on waivers Friday, the team announced on its website.

Although logic would suggest the move is the first step toward a potential buyout for DiPietro, general manager Garth Snow declined to reveal his plans.

“We haven’t given that any consideration at this point,” Snow said when reached by phone Friday afternoon. “I’m not gonna speculate what the future may hold.”

DiPietro is expected to report to the team’s AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, assuming he clears waivers Saturday at noon. Although a team could, in theory, claim him, both his hefty salary and abysmal performance this season make that scenario unlikely.

Snow said he wants to see DiPietro improve his game down in the minors.

“The decision was made primarily as a first step to get him back to the form he was in before he started getting all these injuries,” Snow said. “It’s a situation where we want Rick to have every chance to get back to that success.”

DiPietro started the season with a 0-3-0 record and posted dreadful numbers — a 4.10 goals-against average and .855 save percentage — but his albatross of a contract remains the team’s more pressing issue.

The oft-injured DiPietro’s 15-year, $67.5 million contract — which pays him $4.5 million annually through 2021 — is regarded as one of the league’s worst.

The Islanders could choose to exercise a transition buyout on the 31-year-old this summer. Each team was provided two of these in the new collective bargaining agreement, to be used in the summers of 2013 and 2014. The team could also elect to employ the traditional buyout rule, which would allow the team to retain his cap hit.

That may be the most desirable option for the club, which has barely hovered above the cap floor in recent seasons.

Until the Islanders decide whether or not to buy him out — the team has previously used buyouts on Alexei Yashin and Brendan Witt — the club will pay both his salary and be charged for his cap hit.

Per the rules of the new CBA, DiPietro will still carry a $3.6 million (prorated) hit on the team’s salary cap this year.

Earlier this month, the team acquired veteran netminder Tim Thomas in a trade with the Bruins in what boiled down to a simple salary-cap transaction. The Islanders added Thomas’ $5 million cap hit and won’t have to pay him a single dollar in salary since he has no intention of playing or reporting to the team. Thomas said during the summer that he was taking the year off from hockey to spend time with his family.

DiPietro, a former first overall draft pick, was upset when informed of the team’s decision, Snow said.

“He was disappointed, like any player would be in that situation,” Snow said.

With DiPietro headed down, 22-year-old prospect Kevin Poulin will likely be recalled from the minors to back up veteran Evgeni Nabokov in net.

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Similar to the situation between Scott Gomez and the Montreal Canadiens, Redden, 35, is being prohibited by the Rangers from playing for the remainder of the 2013 season in the team’s anticipation of buying him out this summer.

The fear is that he could suffer an injury while playing for the AHL’s Connecticut Whale. According to the recently brokered collective bargaining agreement, teams are allowed two amnesty buyouts beginning this summer to get under the salary cap. However, teams cannot buy out an injured player.

Montreal already informed Gomez that he will not be permitted to play before the buyout. The NHL does not feel the Canadiens did anything wrong in how they decided to handle the situation, sources told ESPN.

Redden’s six-year, $39 million contract has kept him buried in the minors since 2011.

The Rangers have been in contact with both the league and Redden’s agent, Don Meehan, on the matter and, according to one source, they have told Meehan that he is free to seek a trade for his client.

The situation is not believed to be acrimonious.

Reached via email, Meehan told ESPNNewYork.com that they are “working on the situation” and that he hoped to have more clarity by Tuesday.

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After a series of conference calls on Friday to go over the league’s latest proposal — submitted to the union on Thursday evening — staff members from both the NHL and NHLPA met face-to-face at NHL offices in Manhattan on Sunday. The two sides met for approximately three hours before the union met internally to determine whether to reconvene.

The union’s decision to wait to meet until Monday could be an indication that it will come back to the league with a counter-proposal of its own.

Should the NHLPA counter with its own offer, it is possible the union will take issue with the proposed $60 million salary to take effect for the 2013-14 season, a steep decrease from the $70.2 million cap for the 2012-13 season (pro-rated). It is believed that players are concerned with escrow rates as well.

Sunday’s face-to-face meeting was the first time the two sides have been in the same room since a failed second attempt at federal mediation over two weeks ago.

The window to salvage the season is narrowing each day that goes by without a new agreement in place.

In the NHL’s latest proposal, which featured concessions on term limits, salary variance and amnesty buyouts, the league provided the union with some key dates to save the 2012-13 season.

The league indicated that a deal would have to be in place by Jan. 11, to provide teams with a one-week training camp before what would be slated as the season opener on Jan. 19.

There is another deadline looming for the union as well. The NHLPA has until Wednesday to file a disclaimer of interest, which would essentially dissolve the union. The union membership voted last week — a vote that passed overwhelmingly — to authorize the executive board the power to decide.

The league has already canceled all games through Jan. 14, including the annual Winter Classic, which was originally scheduled to take place Monday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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