Goalie
It’s hard to picture the Vancouver Canucks in the 2010s without Roberto Luongo. The native of Montreal, Quebec made an immediate impact on the franchise from the first season he played here back in 2006-2007 — reaching 40-plus wins for the first time in his career and placing second in Hart and Vezina Trophy voting.
That incredible inaugural season made Canucks fans realize that they had found their backstopper for the near future — one that would be a key piece surrounded by a core of players that were stepping into their prime years.
By the time the 2010s rolled around, Luongo was still playing some of his best hockey behind a team that had created a powerful bond with one other. The team was just so much fun to watch, because as a fan watching those early decade games, you could tell that they were battling and fighting for one another every single game.
The players’ emotion, passion and dedication poured through the screen, and maybe no player demonstrated it more than Luongo — with his slightly unorthodox goaltending style that resulted in some acrobatic stops that left fans mesmerized and wondering “How did that puck stay out?”
He was the heartbeat of a team that would trek all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011, and he produced some of the best hockey that Vancouver fans got to witness. I mean, how could one forget the iconic Stanley Cup Final run? I have chills down my spine just reminiscing about it.
From the beginning of the 2010-2011 season to his trade back to Florida in 2014, Luongo played 177 games, with 97 wins –with a save percentage that was .917 or better in three of those years. He has the most wins among Canuck goaltenders in this decade, and he earned a William M. Jennings Trophy alongside Cory Schneider in 2010-11. He also served as captain from 2008-2010 — a rarity in the NHL for a goaltender — but a testament to Luongo’s leadership and presence in the Canucks locker room.
You can think what you want about his controversial departure and whether it was drawn out too long, or the unfortunate cap recapture penalty the the team is stuck with due to his subsequent retirement, but you can’t recapture the memories that Luongo and those special moments with the Canucks earlier this decade.
-Lucas Celle