Luongo drops a bomb and addresses retirement rumors

Has the soon to be 40 year old netminder finally had enough?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Luongo drops a bomb and addresses retirement rumors
Zuma Press

Don’t look now, but there’s a very good chance that veteran Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo is playing his final games in the NHL. With just six games left on the Panthers schedule and with Luongo FINALLY admitting that he’s considering retirement this offseason, we could be witnessing the final days of a Hall of Fame worthy career.

With Luongo in Toronto yesterday to face the Toronto Maple Leafs, the former Vancouver Canucks netminder caught up with NHL insider Elliotte Friedman and finally addressed the retirement rumors surrounding him. Check out these quotes from Luongo, taken from Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet:

“I can see that (Florida) is considering bringing in someone else,” he said after the morning skate in Toronto. “And [Montembeault] has played well. I’m turning 40 next week…. This season has been very difficult. We’ve got six games left. After, we’ll sit down — myself and the team — and figure this out.”


Would he consider moving on elsewhere?

“No,” he answered. “This is home. To move my family, my children from where they are happy? I couldn’t do that. Family comes first.”


So, it’s Panthers or bust. With the Panthers rumored to be interested in pending unrestricted free agent Sergei Bobrovsky… well Luongo is simply the odd man out. If that’s the case and Luongo does indeed retire, he’ll go down in history as one of the best and most versatile goaltenders in NHL history.

Only first ballot Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551) have more wins than Luongo’s 486. He’s a two-time gold medal Olympian, a six time NHL All-Star and was just one win away from winning a Stanley Cup championship with the Canucks in 2011. Is he Hall of Fame material? That’s up for debate, but there’s no denying that he has had an incredible career. If this is indeed the end of the road for Luongo, he’ll go down in history as one of the best goaltenders of his generation.