Canucks agree to terms with Roberto Luongo

[MacK_Attack 108]

Luongo, Canucks agree on extension

Monday, August 31, 2009

SPORTSNET.CA

The Vancouver Canucks and all-star goaltender Roberto Luongo will have a deal on an extension in place before the start of training camp, sportsnet.ca has confirmed.

The had agreed reached a deal in principle, with only minor details left to be worked out. The term and salary have been agreed upon and an official announcement is expected sometime before the club opens their camp on Sept. 13, the date Luongo had set as a deadline for negotiations.

The Montreal native will make $7.5 million in 2009-10, the final year of a four-year deal he signed in June 2006.

Luongo, 30, went 33-13 last season with a 2.34 GAA and posted nine shutouts.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2009/08/31/luongo_canucks/

[Chelios57 31]

Well, here's hoping he cripples the team with a huge cap hit.

I've never really been too big a fan of Luongo's. Or the Canucks for that matter. I'm curious to see the term's of this contract considering I believe the Sedin's were over-paid.

[Broken 16 381]

Wow... HUGE cap hit. I'm curious to see if it's front loaded to soften the cap blow. But at 4 years, I can't see the cap hit going below 6.5... maybe 6.

[MacK_Attack 108]

Wow... HUGE cap hit. I'm curious to see if it's front loaded to soften the cap blow. But at 4 years, I can't see the cap hit going below 6.5... maybe 6.

The current deal he has is four years, the next one isn't known yet.

[Broken 16 381]

The current deal he has is four years, the next one isn't known yet.

Ahhh... I see. I misread. Length of contract hasn't been disclosed yet.

[Cern 0]

derp

Edited August 31, 2009 by Cern

[VM1138 1,921]

I don't see why some people are so down on Luongo. He's the best goalie in the game next to Brodeur. Today's crop of goalies are horribly inconsistent and overrated, but Luongo continues to chug along despite playing with absolutely horrible teams.

[kidish 0]

I thought the Nucks were over the cap already! Gillis must have some genius accounting people...

[Bartek 0]

I thought the Nucks were over the cap already! Gillis must have some genius accounting people...

The new deal kicks in next season, so it doesn't affect this years' cap..

Edit: The contract is rumoured to be over 10-12 years..

Edited September 1, 2009 by Bartek

[gcom007 1,465]

Good. No more threads calling out Holland to sign him.

Overrated.

[kidish 0]

Good. No more threads calling out Holland to sign him.

Overrated.

I don't know if I'd call him overrated. He's done pretty well with what I'd consider to be one of the more middling defenses out there, despite their defense heavy play system. He's certainly more consistent than Kipper, who I think shows more flashes of brilliance anyway.

If Luo were on a team like New Jersey though, I'd have to imagine him to be nearly unstoppable. (The older, more proven NJ teams, I should add.)

It would have pissed me off had Luo come to Detroit though! It would have been too damn tough to score against you guys!

[Cern 0]

I don't see why some people are so down on Luongo. He's the best goalie in the game next to Brodeur.

Where does he get that reputation, though? His stats aren't exactly jaw-dropping and he has no silverware. I seriously don't understand why there's such a circlejerk for him in Vancouver, there isn't anything about Luongo that strikes fear in my heart whenever the Wings play the Canucks, he just seems like an incredebly overrated goalie.

[kidish 0]

Where does he get that reputation, though? His stats aren't exactly jaw-dropping and he has no silverware. I seriously don't understand why there's such a circlejerk for him in Vancouver, there isn't anything about Luongo that strikes fear in my heart whenever the Wings play the Canucks, he just seems like an incredebly overrated goalie.

I think it's because the team in front of him isn't the Detroit or New Jersey quality team that makes him stand out. Keep in mind how wildly inconsistent that team has been since the lockout -- missing one year, making it the next, missing again, then making it again. When they make it though, he carries his team as far as he can.

(One of the reasons why, pending other changes and dropping salary, the nucks team this year looks real promising -- it has some vital pieces its been missing while he is still in goal.)

I just think of the 06-07 playoffs. In the series with Dallas, it went seven with tons of overtimes. They matched up with Anaheim next, but despite only picking up one game in the series, he made that team work for it. (Whereas when Detroit met Anaheim, it was more of the entire TEAM who made them work.)

The guy is pretty good considering the team that's been around him since he's been there. The Sedins have been the only other highlights, and that's not a whole lot really.

[Cern 0]

I think it's because the team in front of him isn't the Detroit or New Jersey quality team that makes him stand out. Keep in mind how wildly inconsistent that team has been since the lockout -- missing one year, making it the next, missing again, then making it again. When they make it though, he carries his team as far as he can.

But even that's questionable, he looked terrible against the Hawks last playoffs.

Don't get me wrong, he's definately a good goalie overall, but I just don't see anything about his play that justifies the size of his contract - particularly when he claims he wants his team to remain competitive.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Cern

[miller76 463]

But even that's questionable, he looked terrible against the Hawks last playoffs.

Don't get me wrong, he's definately a good goalie overall, but I just don't see anything about his play that justifies the size of his contract - particularly when he claims he wants his team to remain competitive.

I totally agree. I can never fully understand why he walks on water when it comes to rating goalies. His best stats are most shots faced and most saves made in a game or playoff game. You can say the team in front of him hasn't been very good all you want, but I put him into the good goalie category with Kipper, Nabokov, and a current Khabibulin.

[miller76 463]

12 year, 64 million per tsn and rds (approx. 5.33 million per)

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=289692

Edited September 2, 2009 by miller76

[StevieY9802 6]

Will the league be looking into that as well? He'll be 42 when his contract is up and it's hard for goalies to play that long. I almost think the NHL has to look at it if they were making a big deal about Hossa.

[RedWings Gone Wild 6]

Okay, if the league is investigating the Hossa deal... then they've got to investigate this one.

He's going to be 43 by the end of it.... 43? really? And making 1 million a year?... Yeah....

Here's the Yahoo article that claims it is a 12 year deal Link

Luongo, 30, will count as a $5.33-million annual salary cap hit. The front-loaded deal is worth $10-million in its first season before dipping to $6.7-million in every season through 2017-18. In the final two years, 2020-21 and 2021-22, Luongo will earn only $1-million per season, meaning he is likely to retire before then.

Edited September 2, 2009 by RedWings Gone Wild

[Guest mindfly]

This contract and hossas are way over the line, atleast Zetterbergs contract drops a farily amount each year and not several millions the final 3 years

[FunkedUp 29]

This contract and hossas are way over the line, atleast Zetterbergs contract drops a farily amount each year and not several millions the final 3 years

This is the result of a salary cap, or more precisely, laws that regulate prices and wages. As with any sort of rule or legislation, people are always going to find ways around the law. This sort of signing will become commonplace in the coming years. However, I'm predicting that the salary cap gets revoked in 2020. I know its a long ways away, but you can't artificially control prices and wages, as so many think that you can do. Does this sound familiar?

Anyways, regarding Lu, this is a good signing for him as he gets to stay in Vancouver and make a nice check. Even with him signing I'm not sure why everyone thinks Vancouver is such a powerhouse team though. It seems like every year they are supposed to go deep, but never do. Oh well, we shall see...

[numberthirtynine 0]

What a waste of a career. You play for Florida and build yourself up to the point where you can go to a contender.....and you go to Vancouver? And STAY there?!

Well, ok man, whatever you wanna do. They're not a good team. In fact I think they've played well over their head the past couple years and are no better than some teams who didn't make the playoffs. And off hand, I don't remember anything that looked bright in their future enough to change anything, and after looking it up as well, I still don't.

Your life Luo, do what you like. But you'll retire a loser with that team.

[eva unit zero 271]

For now, it's a good cap hit for Luongo. Five to seven years down the road, he's probably paid too much. I don't see him coming anywhere near the end of this deal...and the league should definitely be investigating this deal.

Pretty much, the league should be investigating any deal with a declining structure that is more than 7 years long and is signed when a player is 30 or over. Think about it; once a player hits 30, he's only got a few years left in most cases. The league has put in place that any deal signed after the player reaches 35 affects the cap for the entire length of the deal no matter what; so they should realistically investigate anything that fits the conditions I described as players over 30 signing long deals are unlikely to play the entire length. Neither Hossa nor Luongo will play their entire contract. Franzen and Zetterberg may retire before the end, but there is at least a chance both could play past the ends of their deals. Rick Dipietro could play out his deal, or he might retire due to injury.

If Luongo's deal isn't investigated, it's proof the League offices have no clue what they are doing with regard to contract investigations.

[numberthirtynine 0]

If Luongo's deal isn't investigated, it's proof the League offices have no clue what they are doing with regard to contract investigations.

C'mon man we both know we don't need proof for that.

[Outsider 42]

What a waste of a career. You play for Florida and build yourself up to the point where you can go to a contender.....and you go to Vancouver? And STAY there?!

It's only a waste if going to a Contender would have made a difference.

In Luongo's case, it wouldn't have.

Roberto Luongo is very good at posting pretty stats on crappy Teams. He's very good at looking good.

While he's LOSING.

What he's NOT good at is delivering in high pressure, high stakes situations.

The guy is NOT a clutch goaltender. You think HE doesn't know it? Of course he does.

So he's made a wise decision for himself. He'll stay with a mediocre Team for the remainder of his career, and then it can safely be said that the only reason he never accomplished anything of note was because of the terrible Teams in front of him.

Can you imagine a real, true WINNER making that kind of decision? Let's face it, his reputation and hype as the "greatest goalie in the game", (despite having accomplished absolutely nothing whatsoever), could have landed him a gig ANYWHERE.

He CHOSE to stay in Vancouver and be the big fish in the little pond. No real pressure. No real expectations. Built in excuse for failure, year after year.

Said it before. I'll say it again.....and again.....and again.....and again.....

Spine like overcooked linguine.

Edited September 3, 2009 by Outsider

[numberthirtynine 0]

I have been uttering those same sentiments^^

I'm gonna give him a couple more years before I totally and completely write him off, or else I'll look like the people who wanted Datsyuk traded for being a playoff ghost. And every last one of those people ended up looking pretty silly.

Luo did s*** the bed against Chicago. People cna make excuses about it, and sometimes "excuses" are just actually the truth and justified, but in this scenario, he just lost it by not making stops on pucks he could usually save.