By Jordan Long
Florida Panthers’ goaltender Roborto Luongo has decided to hang up his pads after 19 NHL seasons. He played for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Vancouver Canucks. His next stop should be the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Luongo started his career with the New York Islanders in the 2000 season. That year his record was disappointing with a 7-14-1 record with a goals against average of 3.25. Luongo’s save percentage was an impressive .904. In the 2000 NHL draft the Islanders selected their goaltender of the future in Rick DiPietro with the #1 pick. New York knew they didn’t want to keep Luongo and traded him to Florida.
Luongo stayed in Florida for the next 5 years. His top season for Florida was in 2006 when he won 35 games for them. He ended that year with a goals against average of 2.97 and a save percentage of .914. Unfortunately for Luongo his teams didn’t make the postseason while he was in Florida.
Prior to the start of the 2006-2007 season, Florida dealt Luongo to Vancouver. Vancouver was hoping Luongo was the difference in making a run not only to the playoffs but the Stanley Cup Final. During his 8 years in Vancouver Luongo posted an outstanding record of 252-137-50 with a goals against average of 2.36. Vancouver made the postseason with him 6 times.
The furthest Vancouver went with him was 2011. They advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. They fell short of winning the Cup as they were knocked off by the Boston Bruins in 7 games. Luongo was the reason Vancouver went that far. He was 15-10 with a goals against average of 2.56 and a save percentage of .914.
With that run, it seemed like Luongo was going to finish his career in Vancouver. It didn’t happen. On March 4th, 2014 Luongo was sent back to Florida. He would spend the final 6-years in the NHL with Florida.
This past season was an average year for him. Luongo posted a record of 18-16-5 with a goals against average of 3.12. He was seeing the puck but couldn’t save it from entering the net. Opponents were able to score on him. Luongo’s save percentage was .899 the worst in his career.
When the Panthers’ season ended on April 4th, Luongo was going to take his time to think about his future. The Panthers missed the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row.
He had his answer and decided to walk away from the game. According to USAtoday.com Luongo said, “This is one of the toughest decisions I’ve faced in my life and it took me a long time to make it. After thinking about it a lot over the past two months and listening to my body, I made up my mind. It just feels like the right time for me to step away from the game. I love the game so much, but the commitment I required to prepare, to keep my body ready, has become overwhelming.”
It was time for him to hang up his skates. He finishes his NHL career with a record of 489-392-33-91 with a goals against average of 2.52 and a save percentage of .919. His 489 wins rank him 3rd behind Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur. He is only missing a Stanley Cup ring. Even without that, Luongo did enough to be called one of the greatest goaltenders of all-time. His wins are deserving for him to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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