Canucks agree to terms with Roberto Luongo

[RedWings Gone Wild 6]

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 be 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.

Like every half-decent Canadian team they have high expectations, they just never exceed/meet them. All I've heard all offseason is how good Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal are going to be, and how improved Toronto will be. They will all disappoint. You basically have to have Ottowa's season to get expectations off your back up north.

I think Vancouver's defense is improved, but they will still lack the scoring to get it done. But then again, they have 9 defenders signed, and Sundin still hasn't made up his mind... It remains to be seen what kind of team they will be.

[numberthirtynine 0]

Montreal is the worst for that. The media and fans want so badly for them to be good, any sign of it and they'll freak out, and label them contenders. When they could be no better than the Panthers and if they were the same team, situated in Florida, no one would give a quarter of a s***.

[Outsider 42]

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.

If you've watched him closely enough, for long enough, you'll realize it's a pattern with him.

As the pressure mounts, he gets progressively worse. And when it starts to go bad, you can see it. He's down on his knees inside the net after a goal goes in, and when he lifts his mask for a squirt from his water bottle, you can REALLY see it.....

Panic. Abject panic. Like a deer in headlights. Or like a drowning man.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Good cap hit for a goalie of Lou's calibre, I was expecting 6.5+, good job by Gillis.

[henriksedin 1]

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.

Proof you have absolutely NO CLUE what you're talking about, as the truth is essentially the exact opposite. In a hockey city like Vancouver, that used to be a goalie graveyard, Luongo is under the spotlight 24/7, every game picked apart, every interview scrutinized. The only market where he would have more pressure would be Montreal. And he WANTS that.

If you've watched him closely enough, for long enough, you'll realize it's a pattern with him.

As the pressure mounts, he gets progressively worse. And when it starts to go bad, you can see it. He's down on his knees inside the net after a goal goes in, and when he lifts his mask for a squirt from his water bottle, you can REALLY see it.....

Panic. Abject panic. Like a deer in headlights. Or like a drowning man.

Please, enlighten me of this "pattern". He has 2 World Championships and a World Cup as a starter. As far as his NHL career goes, he never even faced any pressure before 06/07, where he was lights out in the first round, and lost to a vastly superior (cup champion) Anaheim team. Your "pattern" is comprised of one bad game which not a single player on the team showed up for.

Your posts reek of bitterness. Luongo & Jokinen for Parrish & Kvasha. lol

Edited September 3, 2009 by henriksedin

[Outsider 42]

Proof you have absolutely NO CLUE what you're talking about, as the truth is essentially the exact opposite. In a hockey city like Vancouver, that used to be a goalie graveyard, Luongo is under the spotlight 24/7, every game picked apart, every interview scrutinized. The only market where he would have more pressure would be Montreal. And he WANTS that.

Perhaps you've misunderstood.

ALL goaltenders are "under the spotlight". It's the nature of their position. In a "hockey" city, it's true, the spotlight is a little hotter. A little brighter.

But that doesn't mean that anyone, (other than some fans and some deluded Canucks beat writers....."Write/call in with YOUR SC Parade Route, folks!"....), has any real expectations that he'll win the Cup there.

You're not SERIOUS about the "The only market where he would have more pressure would be Montreal." bit, are you? Really?

Try Toronto. See Curtis Joseph. He made a CAREER out of playing for crappy Teams, and losing in that critical moment.

It had been stated by hockey pundits for a decade that if CuJo were on a Team which was even MARGINALLY capable of winning a Cup, he'd have his ring already.

It had also been whispered by many, many others that Joseph was nothing more than a paper tiger, and that the real reason he'd never won a damned thing was because he wasn't able to perform in the clutch. Plain and simple.

Pretty stats. Spectacular looking saves. No backbone for it when the real Game began.

Please, enlighten me of this "pattern". He has 2 World Championships and a World Cup as a starter. As far as his NHL career goes, he never even faced any pressure before 06/07, where he was lights out in the first round, and lost to a vastly superior (cup champion) Anaheim team. Your "pattern" is comprised of one bad game which not a single player on the team showed up for.

Your posts reek of bitterness. Luongo & Jokinen for Parrish & Kvasha. lol

LOL....

You keep right on believing that. All of it. Including the tripe about his MODERATE success in International play in front of Team Canada.

You keep right on believing that "not a single player on the Canucks showed up for" that Game 6 against Chicago.

And I'll keep remembering how the Canucks kept battling back.....

Up by one....only to see it tied up at 1 a bare two minutes later. And THEN to go down by two goals in the 2nd.

Tying it up at 3-3. Then the GO AHEAD goal to open the 3rd. Only to watch THAT lead evaporate LESS than two minutes later.

Tying it up AGAIN, about midway through the 3rd.

Only to watch the Hawks knock in 3 of the FUGLIEST goals a hockey fan could imagine, in the span of a little over three minutes, and on what was it....5 shots?......late in the 3rd Period....

And send the Canucks home again.....when the "best goaltender in the world" gave up 7 goals, on 30 shots, in an elimination Game. And each one of those last 3 goals a BACK BREAKER, and each one uglier than the one before it.

I'll ALSO keep remembering his own words, as he CHOKED down the stretch in 2008, getting pulled in consecutive games when his Team was fighting tooth and nail for a Play Off berth:

Once after giving up 4 consecutive goals against Colorado in the 2nd Period, with his Team trying to hold a 2-1 lead.

Again, two nights later, after giving up 4 goals on 21 shots against Minnesota.

What were his words again....???? Ah yes....now I remember......

"I don't really care, my season ended Thursday as far as I'm concerned. I tried to bring it but obviously I didn't have anything left in the tank."

Well, gee, Roberto. Sorry to hear that. However....

Perhaps if you hadn't played so dismally in the two consecutive games down the stretch where you were pulled, and followed that up by giving up 3 consecutive goals, in a span of 5 minutes during the 2nd Period, (and a total of 4 goals on 20 shots before the night was through), after your Team went up 2-0, in the game immediately PRECEEDING that infamous and dreadfully disappointing Thursday night.....

Well then.....perhaps that Thursday where YOUR Season "ended", (poor, poor Roberto), wouldn't have been such a critical, win-or-go-home game after all.

As for your assertion that I'm "bitter".....

LOL. Now THERE'S a laugh.

The only difference between the Isles WITH Roberto Luongo and WITHOUT Roberto Luongo is that WITHOUT him there's no Pretty Pretty Princess in the lockerroom flipping his long, greasy locks over his shoulders as he talks about loss.....after loss....after loss.

I never could stand him, from the gate.

He's yours now.

And he's on the clock. You can HAVE him.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Edited September 3, 2009 by Outsider

[numberthirtynine 0]

There's not that much pressure on Montreal goalies. No one truly, deep down, thinks they'll win a Cup. They're just out to razz the poor kid(s). Like it's a game. It's more hazing than pressure. Detroit is a true goalie pressure cooker, as we've seen over the years. It's gotten inside of many goaltender's heads and killed their game.

Mon just smells panic in a young goalie and attacks. Probably an unfortunate side effect of being a city full of assholes and arrogant jerks.

Edited September 3, 2009 by numberthirtynine