Panthers to retire Roberto Luongo’s number on March 7th, 2020

[Luigi Lemieux]

whens the last time a player gets their number retired on a team, but they had a better career with the team who didn't retire their number?

Ron Francis

 

[Asheville]

All the more relevant as he will be employed by the franchise in some capacity for many years. Plans to stay in SoFla for the rest of his days. When Tallas is eventually fired, hopefully Roberto is the replacement.

 

[Devilsfan118]

All the more relevant as he will be employed by the franchise in some capacity for many years. Plans to stay in SoFla for the rest of his days. When Tallas is eventually fired, hopefully Roberto is the replacement.

Can't imagine why the Panthers wouldn't give him a front-and-center position. Fans love him and he's great for the game.

But.. retiring his number? Hell of a legacy of irrelevancy and losing they're cementing there eh? I don't get it.

 

[Devilsfan118]

Are you serious or joking?

He's got one Jennings, that's it for personal accomplishments.

He's a good goalie, just not HHof good.

Come on, he's the 3rd* winningest goalie in the history of the league.

Of course he's getting into the HOF.

Imagine what his stats would be if he didn't rot on those miserable Panthers teams?

 

[Weztex]

If Luongo doesn't make the HOF, he's got a case for best goalie left out. He had an impressive peak and an amazing longevity (top-4 in Vezina voting 16 years apart).

He's certainly ahead of Cheevers, Vachon and MAF, who some people around here inexplicably hail as a future HOFer.

 

[Asheville]

Can't imagine why the Panthers wouldn't give him a front-and-center position. Fans love him and he's great for the game.

But.. retiring his number? Hell of a legacy of irrelevancy and losing they're cementing there eh? I don't get it.

he is the franchise leader in every goaltending stat category. the f*** more could he have done? Not his fault he played behind crap his entire time as a Cat. And let me know the next time a goalie plays as many games as he has and retires with at least a 0.919 sv%

 

[tony d]

This is good. Luongo's one of their better players ever, no surprise to see them do this.

 

[GoldenSeal]

Why cant we agree that with exception, the teams Lu was on were pretty damn subpar or choked on him? Cant blame him for that and that does affect his stats.

 

[Devilsfan118]

he is the franchise leader in every goaltending stat category. the **** more could he have done? Not his fault he played behind crap his entire time as a Cat. And let me know the next time a goalie plays as many games as he has and retires with at least a 0.919 sv%

I do not disagree that he deserves individual recognition for his work - he'll (probably) be a first ballot HOFer.

But as far as the Panthers retiring his number to cement his place in franchise history.. it just feels very.. kinda amateurish. I guess being the franchise leader in a bunch of categories counts for something, but..to retire a player's number just because he played for a long time for your franchise seems like a stretch. Especially when said player played his best hockey for another team.

Feels like the Panthers are desperate to get a number in the rafters to me.

 

[canuckster19]

They should have done this when Vancouver was visiting, it would have been hilarious

Why? I loved the guy when he was a Canuck, I named my dog after him, I don't mind that Florida is doing this... should I be pissed or something?

 

[AK87]

Maybe it's because I am only in my 30s but when I think of Luongo I think of Vancouver.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Maybe it's because I am only in my 30s but when I think of Luongo I think of Vancouver.

I am 34 and I associate him more with Florida.

 

[Asheville]

I do not disagree that he deserves individual recognition for his work - he'll (probably) be a first ballot HOFer.

But as far as the Panthers retiring his number to cement his place in franchise history.. it just feels very.. kinda amateurish. I guess being the franchise leader in a bunch of categories counts for something, but..to retire a player's number just because he played for a long time for your franchise seems like a stretch. Especially when said player played his best hockey for another team.

Feels like the Panthers are desperate to get a number in the rafters to me.

Run the numbers on just his Panthers career, find out the save percentage and you'll have your answer.

 

[Ace of Hades]

Maybe, but he shouldn't be. He was never the best goalie in his career, he never won a Vezina, he doesn't have a cup.

Hall of fame should be about the absolute best. It's become a joke. Why should there be tens of players every year going in the Hall? It's ridiculous, but it's what it is.

This is nothing against Luongo personally. I like the guy.

This is incorrect.

Luongo was the best goalie in 2006-07, and was a beast in the playoffs that season too. He was a top 3 goalie in his prime and peak, and had a very lengthy career.

He was robbed of the Vezina a few times, and Vezina is more of a reputation trophy. For example he should've won against Brodeur instead of being placed second.

The cups argument is a joke, since it's a team game, and he was a game from winning one. Look at how the teams he played behind. He got no offensive support, and had to basically win by getting shutouts or 1-2 goals from his team as support max.

Also he's a gold Olympic winner as a starter.

He's definitely a hall of famer.

 

[Windy River]

I would argue he had two, maybe three truly good seasons for Florida. Low standards perhaps and it is what it is... I simply think Vancouver is the team who would be honoring Luongo had they won the Cup in '11.

Unfortunately this happened during the finals:

 

[CascadiaPuck]

No, I'm not too young to have watched him play. I'm 3 years younger than Luongo.

I just don't think a goalie with zero Vezinas should get into the HHoF.

Peak Brodeur beat him by a very thin margin in 2006-07. Might've been the closest two horse race in the history of that trophy.
VEZINA TROPHY VOTING HISTORY: YEAR-BY-YEAR

Beyond that, he had two other Vezina nominations, eight Top 10 Vezina voting finishes (16 years between the first and last, I think), a Hart nomination, two Pearson/ Lindsay nominations, international success (Olympic golds, World championships). Managed to finish 9th all-time in shutouts while playing for subpar teams for most of his career.

In a league with 30+ teams, that's a standout performance.

 

[LeHab]

Are you serious or joking?

He's got one Jennings, that's it for personal accomplishments.

He's a good goalie, just not HHof good.

You will be in a small minority if you don't consider him HoF worthy. Debate might be around whether he should be a 1st year ballot or not. Don't think he deserves to be in 1st year but definitely has a place among the greats.

HHoF bar is not very high.

 

[hypereconomist]

If Luongo doesn't make the HOF, he's got a case for best goalie left out. He had an impressive peak and an amazing longevity (top-4 in Vezina voting 16 years apart).

He's certainly ahead of Cheevers, Vachon and MAF, who some people around here inexplicably hail as a future HOFer.

I agree with him being the best goalie not in the hall. On top of consistently being one of the best goalies in the league almost the entirety of his career, he still racked up some impressive accomplishments despite not winning the Vezina

2x Vezina runner-up
2x 2nd team all-star
2x 3rd team all-star
1x Hart runner-up
1x Jennings winner

3rd all-time in career wins
2nd all-time in career saves

Barasso doesn't have the same longevity and Cujo can't match his peak.

 

[kaiser matias]

I do not disagree that he deserves individual recognition for his work - he'll (probably) be a first ballot HOFer.

But as far as the Panthers retiring his number to cement his place in franchise history.. it just feels very.. kinda amateurish. I guess being the franchise leader in a bunch of categories counts for something, but..to retire a player's number just because he played for a long time for your franchise seems like a stretch. Especially when said player played his best hockey for another team.

Feels like the Panthers are desperate to get a number in the rafters to me.

Aside from the playing for a different team, this is exactly what the Devils did with Ken Daneyko. He wasnt exactly a league leader in anything, and mainly got it for sticking around long enough to see the Devils go from Mickey Mouse to Cup winner.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

2nd place in hart voting in 06/07 when he somehow lost the Vezina.

Hopefully Vancouver is next to retire his number. He's a generational talent future HHOFer.

The consistency year to year throughout his entire career is incredible.

 

[Devilsfan118]

Aside from the playing for a different team, this is exactly what the Devils did with Ken Daneyko. He wasnt exactly a league leader in anything, and mainly got it for sticking around long enough to see the Devils go from Mickey Mouse to Cup winner.

Kinda sorta, but not really imo.

Dano's situation is kind of the opposite of Luongo's - not a remarkably talented player and certainly not HOF material, but he won three cups with the Devils and was a major part of the franchise's identity. Also yeah, he did play for only one team - that's a pretty significant achievement for a guy with a long career (STARING AT YOU MARTY DAMN IT).

I think it'd be more like the Devils retiring the number of.. maybe Rafalski? Which, imo, would be as ridiculous as Florida retiring Luongo's for similar reasons. But even Rafalski had a couple cups with the Devils. Maybe a guy like Mogilny would be a better comparable.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Well earned. Wonder if Vancouver will follow.

Islanders should retire his jersey too.

 

[ColbyChaos]

whens the last time a player gets their number retired on a team, but they had a better career with the team who didn't retire their number?

Roenick?

 

[end]

I always thought it was exceedingly lame that the Panthers had no player numbers they wanted or could retire. All of the other early 90s expansion teams managed to have franchise players.

I wonder who will be the first retired number for the millennial franchises.

 

[jkrdevil]

Why not verses Vancouver?

Probably because they don’t want to remind the fans that they traded him away during some his prime years over a salary dispute/concerns.

The focus on the evening should be on his career with the Panthers and having the Canucks in the building kind of takes away from that.