VANCOUVER – If you were surprised 10 years ago to hear that Roberto Luongo’s $64-million contract “sucked,” you’d have been flabbergasted if someone told you then that in 2023 the Vancouver Canucks would add him to their Ring of Honour.
But the permanence of the National Hockey League team’s acknowledgement of Luongo, and his embrace of being forever connected to the Canucks, is proof that the tumultuous time near the end of his eight years in Vancouver diminished neither his achievements nor his character.
The organization will forgive a lot. After all, Pavel Bure’s number was retired in 2013, 15 years after he walked out on the Canucks while under contract to finally force a trade the Russian Rocket first requested in his second of seven seasons. Time heals.
Although Luongo also wanted out of Vancouver at the end – dislodged as starter by Cory Schneider in the 2012 playoffs and finally traded back to the Florida Panthers two years later – his relationship with fans not only survived but flourished.
Luongo’s humility and humour, his humanness, bloomed during his most difficult seasons and made Thursday night’s ceremony a wonderful bookend to his time as a Canuck.
“The difficult time wasn’t at the end,” Luongo smiled during a press conference Thursday morning. “I thought it was. . . pretty happy at the end.
“You always want to leave a good impression. The goal when I played, I mean, I always wanted to be the best. It didn’t matter what year it was, whether it was my rookie year or even my last year when I was 40 years old, I was still striving to be the best goalie in the league. That was just the way I was built. Some fantastic years here in Vancouver. Like I said before, those were the years that I was my prime. So I’m glad that it is getting recognized because this city holds a special place for me, and I always look forward to coming back.”
He is back in Vancouver, as he was last season when Thursday’s honour was announced, with the Panthers as a special advisor to the general manager. It’s a position that will launch Luongo to a full general managership one day. He was old as a player at 40, when he finally retired in Florida in 2019, but is young for a manager at 44.
A handful of his former teammates in Vancouver — Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Chris Higgins, Ryan Johnson, Mikael Samuelsson — now hold player-development or management positions with the Canucks. Former teammate Manny Malhotra is coaching in Toronto, Alex Burrows in Montreal. Sami Salo is coaching in Finland. Kevin Bieksa is on the sport’s biggest television stage every Saturday for Hockey Night in Canada. Newly retired, Schneider is just dipping his toe into the media industry but will be a star if he decides to dive in.
After speaking with a bunch of Luongo’s former teammates in the last week, we were reminded not only what exceptional players those Canuck teams between 2006-2014 possessed, but what exceptional people.
“It’s amazing, right?” Luongo said of the alumni. “It was a great and special group. It’s like every locker room, but I think guys really, genuinely loved each other, cared for each other, teased each other all the time. Countless ping pong tournaments, cards on the plane, a really tight group.
“The fact that now you see them sprinkled a bit everywhere around the league is fun because then I get to see them. It’s nice that they stayed in touch with hockey and in the league. These are memories that we built together for all those years that live on. And whenever we see each other, we always like to reminisce a little bit.”
This is a kind of homecoming for Luongo and his wife, Gina. They’re actual home has always been in South Florida, but their children, Gabriella and Giani, were born during the family’s time in Vancouver and spent their early years here.
Luongo said he is taking an extra day this week to visit old haunts, to let his kids see where they used to live and spend time.
“It was the most important stretch of my career,” Luongo said. “It was when I was in my prime. We had a great team. We were in the playoffs. We made a run to the Cup. I played in the Olympics in this city, which is unbelievable when you think about it. So it’s a huge, huge part of my life. Always will be.”
It’s forever.
