On Wednesday, June 26th, 2019, Roberto Luongo announced his retirement from the NHL after 19 seasons. He accomplished much over his career, although he never won the Vezina Trophy (but he should have, at least in 2004) or the Stanley Cup. Regardless, he was a phenomenal goalie over his career and has been talked about as one of the best all-time. He was drafted fourth overall by the New York Islanders in 1997 and played 24 games for them in the 2000-01 season, sporting a 0.904 save percentage and 3.25 goals against average. But, his career essentially started and ended with the Florida Panthers, as he spent 11 seasons and played 572 games with them in total. He split his time in Florida, playing for them for five seasons after being traded from the Islanders before being traded again, and then he was traded for the final time back to the Panthers and played for them for six more seasons to end his career. He finished with a 0.919 SV% and 2.61 GAA over his two stints with the team. He played for the Vancouver Canucks for eight seasons and 448 games in the middle of his career, ending his time with them with a 0.919 SV% and 2.36 GAA. It was with the Canucks that he came within one win of the Stanley Cup, losing to the Bruins in seven games in 2011, and when asked about it not too long ago, he said the memory of that game and the two blown series leads still haunts him to this day.
As I said, Luongo has been talked about as one of the best goalies of all time, and you can see why as he holds a place on many of the all-time lists and is in the top three on three of them. He played 1,044 career regular season NHL games, which is good for second on the all-time games played list, behind only Martin Brodeur, who played 1,266 games. He had 489 career wins, which is good for third on the all-time wins list behind Brodeur (691 wins), and Patrick Roy (551 wins). Finally, he is second all-time on the saves list with 28,409 saves, behind only Brodeur’s 28,928. He ended his career with a 0.919 SV% and 2.52 GAA. He was an elite goalie in the league for many years, winning the William M. Jennings award at the end of the 2010-11 season and he was also named an All-Star on five different occasions. Unfortunately for him, injuries took a toll on his body, particularly the one that led him to have hip surgery in 2016, and are ultimately what forced him to retire despite being under contract for three more seasons. At the end of the season, he appeared as though he would return for at least more and he said he didn’t care if he did so as a back-up. But in his open letter posted on NHL.com, he said once he got to May, which is when he normally starts his offseason training, he found himself dreading it and his body telling him it didn’t want to go through it. He had to work really hard and it took up a lot of his time, as he’d have to show up to practice two hours early and three hours early to games just to focus on stretching out his hip. Even on off-days, he said he had to spend a lot of time rolling it out, stretching, and preparing his body so he can be at his best. He said most of his life was revolved around recovery and that he’s at the point now where he just can’t do it anymore. He said he struggled with the decision for a long time and it still isn’t easy, but he feels it is the right time for him to step away from the game.
As amazing as his career was, he may have had an even bigger impact off the ice. He has connected with fans in ways few others have through his Instagram and Twitter accounts, @strombone1, where he is funny, humble, self-deprecating, and relatable. He has also done a lot in the community, particularly in South Florida. Few who watched it will ever forget his speech when the Panthers honored the Parkland community after the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school. It was very emotional and sincere, as he lives around the corner from the school and his kids are in that school system. He did so much for the community in the aftermath of it, and he does a lot of other community work as well. Aside from his community work, he’s notorious for being a fun guy to be around and a jokester, and he was a great guy to have in the locker room. All his teammates said they will miss him and loved having him around as he was a good leader and you could learn a lot from him, but he also knew how to keep it light. He’s as good of a person as he was a goalie in his prime. He will be missed around the NHL, and while it’s sad to see him go, I’m sure he will be involved in the front office of the Panthers organization soon (he even said he wanted to be in his goodbye letter). But, to Lu as a player, all I can say is goodbye and a sincere congratulations on a fantastic career that will earn him a place in the Hall of Fame three years from now. But, it’s nice knowing this is far from the last we see as Luongo as a person, as we will see him involved in the game in different ways for many years to come.
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