In his 19th NHL season, Florida Panthers' Roberto Luongo has had quite a few ups and downs this past year. The veteran netminder missed the first month of the season with a strained medial collateral ligament in his right knee suffered in Florida's opener. He is now 7-6-1 with one shutout, a .900 save percentage and a 3.14 goals-against average in 2018-19.
He is also pushing on 40, but it does not seem to matter to Luongo, who is still looking for a shot at the Stanley Cup, a trophy he came so close to hoisting with the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 after an exciting final against the Boston Bruins.
"I just want to be in the playoffs, man," recently said Luongo in an interview with CBC. "I just want to get a taste of that. That's why I play."
Retirement rumours have been buzzing, especially when you take a look at the details of his contract, from Cap Friendly. "In actual dollars, the deal pays him just $3.382 million this season, a significant drop from the $6.714 million earned annually from 2011-12 through 2017-18. In 2019-20, his salary plummets to $1.618 million before bottoming out at $1 million in each of the final two years." If people fear that Luongo is close to retirement, his latest comments to Luke Fox of Sportsnet will convince anyone that he wants to quiet down the chatter and focus on playing for as long as he can.
“Recovery is not as fast. You have to put a lot of work into it to make sure you’re ready to play the next night. I understand what they’re going through. I feel it every day. Right now, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep going, and we’ll see how long I play.”
Of course, as Fox pointed out in his Quick Shifts column, veteran players Marian Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg had also denied the retirement rumors before finally hanging the skates.
However, Lou is still looking for that precious ring...
