Luongo to return to Vancouver roster

@ Gretzky's Mullet : Thanks, I stand corrected. I actually knew the year, it's just difficult getting the year correct sometimes with the World Junior Tournament seeing as it begins in one year and ends in another. I even called the 2006 World Juniors the 2005 World Juniors in another post one time. I was there live for goodness sake yet still confused the year.

Luongo in 2007 : 47 wins, 2.28, .921
Let's not forget the Canucks of 2006-07 : Kesler and Burrows COMBINED for 25 points. Naslund and Morrison were shells of the players they once were. Taylor Pyatt was the team's 5th leading scorer. Matt Cooke often played on one of the top two lines. YET, riding Roberto Luongo, the Canucks won the Northwest division title. After missing the playoffs in 2006, the Canucks set a single season record with 105 points and made the second round. Pittsburgh had an equally impressive turnaround that year but were eliminated in the first round. I'm not saying Crosby's MVP was a gift, but his PR helped his cause. Being from the East helped as well. Finally, the addition of Malkin and his 85 points helped the Pens immensely in 2006-07. Luongo carried the Canucks that year.

The Pearson is good point though. As is the one about junior performances (look at Price's great play and Fleury's meltdown for example). Still, Luongo's never won anything of significance. Also, how does one reach his 30's without a single Vezina, First All-Star team selection and a grand total of two playoff round victories YET is still tagged with term "World's best goalie"???

Josh Holden...thanks for reminding me. Ouch!

@31 Guy F. I can't stop laughing brother. Just woke up in time to hear my Leafs defeat the Wild. Luongo story up. Knew you had to be posting. You certainly did not let me down. Reading Andrew Raycroft and world class goaltending in the same sentence has just made me spill my morning coffee all over my keyboard. WHAT? Is there no depth to your complete loathing of Roberto Luongo?
Please come back and call Bobby Lou every name in the book if he freaks up tonight against the Blues OK? I surely hope you will. I want you to call him every profane expletive %^*&# you can come up with if he lets in a few softies, and make sure you get the post game comments from him or what you think they will be.
Thank you for making my morning, but my keyboard and wife are not happy with you at all. Cheers from China!
On a slightly serious note, can't get over the hard stat line on Luongo. Breathtaking. I do not want that man in my net in the Olympics. Only Martin Brodeur will do. As stated before, I think you are suffering a bad Brian Burke/Dan Cloutier induced case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It must be awful. Just hug your son if and when the going gets bad tonight and try not to teach him "Luongo sucks" as his first ever words OK? I know you're working on that. Do your best bro', do your best. Good luck!

Come on Guy F, I respect your opinions but Crosby deserved his Hart Trophy over Luongo. He also won the Pearson as voted on by the players, so you can't really blame the writers or the league for wanting to give it to their "poster boy".

I'm also a little hesitant to agree with using junior statistics as a predictor of future success. After all, in the 1998 tourney (it was 1998 when we finished 8th, not 1999), Canada's leading scorer was Josh Holden.

Damn!!! Just when Canuck fans were actually being treated to world-class goaltending. Schneider's 45 save effort against Dallas was epic. A depleted Canucks squad, Bieksa had to play wing, finally hit a wall and allowed a Stars onslaught. Luckily, Cory keep us in. The previous night the Canucks won 5-2 in Minnesota and the star of that game was Andrew Raycroft who absolutely robbed a few Wild players. Again, more amazing saves in those two games combined than Luongo's entire season. Ah well, Roberto will suck and then act completely smug in interviews. He will be offended if anyone asks if he came back to soon, even as he gives up 4-5 goals a game. He'll arrogantly answer such queries with, "My games coming around, it's were I want it to be. It's hard with all these new faces in the line-up. Not everyone knows the system here and sometimes I just get caught trying to do too much. I need to have confidence in my teammates..."

Ah....no Mr. Wonderful....the team, the managemant and the entire city need to have confidence in you!!!! Something that you have failed to provide since 2007!

Ryan Kesler is the captain of the Vancouver Canucks, PERIOD

Guy F...sorry bud, I just heard the news. I am sure you are thrilled about a Roberto return on Thursday. Just make a stiff drink, it will be ok...............

Best 2 period goaltender in the world= Luongo= Tretiak= best 3 period goaltender in early 70's.

Now a report from Yahoo sports said that Luongo might miss 1 week. That's not good. Back up goalie Raycroft haven't played a game yet, I don't know I'm not a Canuck's fan. Injuries depleted Canucks will have trouble at Staples Center tonight @7:30Pm Pacific. They are without R Luongo, S Salo, R Johnson, Daniel Sedin(Foot injury) and Kyle Wellfood. Kings should win this game tonight. The only player missing from the Line up is Justin Williams. He has missed 3 games. Go Kings!

This may actually be good for Vancouver, as Luongo hasn't been on his game so far. I'd rank Luongo easily as top 5....maybe 3rd.

Re : 2004 World Junior Championships.

The Canadians were up 3-1 going into the third and Fleury did let in a couple of softies prior to the winner. The goal actually went off O'Sullivan, as I recall, as Fleury tried clearing it...
Some have specualted that this epic meltdown was one of the reasons he had such a hard time early in his career. The thinking is that now, with a Cup victory under his belt, he has erased "the demons" so to speak. However, I'm with BB, I say it's Marty's job to lose.

Re : Luongo

Since 1993, the Canadian Junior Team was won either gold, silver or bronze at the WJC (with the majority of those being Gold). There was one abberation. In 1999, after five straight golds, we came eighth. Our starting goaltender...Roberto Luongo. We've won g-s-b ever since...
Luongo played in the Memorial Cup twice, never made the final.
He's never been out of the second round in the NHL playoffs.
Also, for the world's supposed best goalie, how does a NHL goaltender make it to his 30's without a single Vezina trophy a first all-star team selection? Would you call a player in his 30's who had never won the Hart, Art Ross or been on the first all-star team the league's best? Hey, Lecavalier is the best player in the league! Why? Well, the Tampa Bay media convinced me of it and I love the Lightning plus he's our captain! That's essentially the thought process of Canuck fans who claim Luongo's the best. Is Vinnie great? Yes? The best? Hardly. Same with Roberto.
To all those "do your research, Luongo's awesome" types...I would kindly suggest you do YOUR research.
I do not hate Roberto. I think a 5.2 million dollar cap hit is reasonable in this market. He's a top ten goalie for sure. It's nice having him after enduring Dan Cloutier BUT anyone who thinks he is the best goalie in the league is simply delusional and does not watch much hockey.

BB.........Yes, I know it was very lucky. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good! Besides, that is the last one that the US won, so can I bask in that glory????

@Post22

Don the goal you are referring to was a fluke and not Fluerys fault. As I recall it went off his own defenseman and in the net for a very lucky goal and win by Team USA.
@Post18
Luongo is good and so is Fluery but anyone who knows hockey,knows Brodeur should be the #1 right off the bat. For anyone else to get the not Marty would really have to s@it the bed!!

@18...Yes it is true that Fluery has international experience. I kiss my gold medal and give thanks to him every night. Yours Truly, Patrick O'Sullivan........................ : )

Luongo is the most over rated PLAYER in hockey today!!

All you guys who think Fleury should start are retarded. Fleury is not a consistent goalie and you dont know what you are going to get out of him. Luongo your best bet with Brodeur as back up and Ward as the third. Fleury doesnt even deserve to be on the team.

I second what BC Caps said.

I often call Luongo overrated and my fellow Canuck fans gasp as if I've just committed some unforgiveable sin. It's ridiculous. I always called Bertuzzi an overpaid tool...and people were critical of that as well. Does that mean I'm not a Canuck fan? Do I have to drink the Luongo Kool-Aid without so much as question why the terms "best goalie in the world" and "best goalie on the planet" are thrown around? He WAS the best goalie in the league in 2006-07. He SHOULD have won the Vezina (came second to Brodeur). In fact, he SHOULD have won the HART (but, of course, the league could not wait to award it to their poster boy Crosby. Like a goalie from the westcoast is going to beat out a hype-machine from the East). Since then, he has been spectacular at times and HORRIBLE at other times. Of course, when he gets hot all my friends and fellow Canuckleheads love to say, "What do you think know? Ready to jump back on the bandwagon?" Ahh...I never LEFT the bandwagon, I follow this team religiously. What, we should have a parade and a party because our "franchise" player is finally playing to his capabilities? I should bow down and kiss Louie's feet because he's finally actually EARNING some of that 64 million? Please.

Obviously, I hope he's okay. He's a HUGE part of our team. Still, IMO, the MVP is Ryan Kesler and he should be captain, not Luongo.

Ahem...not all Canuckleheads think Luongo is so great. I'm worried that he'll get the nod because the Olympics are in his home arena and he'll embarrass us (Canadians, that is).
As much as I hate to say it, Fleury has the numbers this year and he's got international experience.

Hey verhab :
I am not a cunucks fan. But I think you are totally wrong about Luongo. He is one of the best two
goaltenders in canada. Probably the best we have. Remember the goal that put New Jersey out
of the playoffs last year. That was a very weak goal. Also remember Fleury has a terrible international
record. Ward should and probably will be the third string, in the olympics. He is also a very good
international player. Having proved himself before. If Luongo had some great forwards in front of
him. He would also have a stanley cup. That is the only reason Fleury has a ring.

Luongo is a good goalie but I would rather see Fleury in net for Canada. Luongo doesn't have the pedigree or experience that Fleury has wrt high pressure situations. I understand he hasn't had the oppurtunities of other players on better teams but I don't want him cutting his teeth during the most important tourney this country has ever been in.

This is a reply to 'verhabs' comment: "To all you Canuckleheads.."

You're an idiot. I'm sick of people making comments without doing their homework first. Look at Luongo's career stats. He's been in the league almost 10 years and he's still improving. If your wondering why he hasn't won a cup, look at the teams he played for. Not exactly cup contenders, let alone making the playoffs. Check out the boxscores from last night's game against detroit. He pretty much stood on his head for vancouver putting up 42 stops. Vancouver lost 5-4.

Brodeur's on the outs. I can't think of a better replacement.

Petr Budaj, the Colorado Avalanche got Swine Flu. Not good. I just heard that another player has Swine Flu too. Terrible. Raycrof or whoever the Canucks back up goalie is will be in net when they face the Kings on Thursday. I am a King's fan. Kings will play back-to-back again. Tonight they will take on the Sharks at The Shark Tank. Kings a little or no success again the Sharks at the Tank. We'll see what will happen tonight. Is Anze Kopitar hot or what? He's got 10 goals and 9 assists in 12 games. He's among the league leader in scoring, maybe 1 point behind Alex Ovechkin. Kings are 8-4-0 good for 16 points. The are on top of the Pacific Division. Sharks got 15 points, 7-4-1. I got to watch World Series. Yankees and Phillies go at in about 30 minutes California time. I wish the Dodgers would go to World Series, but they lost to the Phillies 4 games to 1. Frank McCourt, the Dodgers owner divorced his wife and CEO Jamie McCourt. Frank also fired her. She is filing for reinstatement. She wants her job back. They were married for 30 years, but they are separated. Go Kings!

Somehow comments from the 08-09 playoffs are popping up here.

All you Canuckleheads out there who think Luongo should play for Canada in the Olympics should give your heads a shake. Most Canuck fans believe Luongo is a God and Luongo thinks the same of himself .He never takes responsibility for bad goals or bad losses and usually blames his teammates for them(That's what a Captain should do, I'm sure Crosby, Thornton & the boys will like that). The Vancouver media are always hyping Luongo like he is some kind of Legend and a "shoe-in" for a spot on the Olympic roster when the reality is he's never won anything except a handful of regular season games. No cup like Fleury, Ward and Brodeur. All of them have gone all the way and have come up big in "the big game"(not like Luongo in the playoffs against Anaheim and Chicago). We got only one chance to win it all in 2010 and imagine the excitement of the gold medal game and now think-do you really want Luongo in net in that big game? No you don't. which Luongo will show up -the Luongo who played the first five games this year or the Luongo who played the next five games -not sure if I like that inconsistency during the Olympics.

Raycroft gets a chance to show his stuff. The Canucks need a better conditioning coach; the guys are going to heal but they shouldn't have been hurt. If the Canucks weather the injury storm, then maybe they can do the rest of the year without any new injuries.

like oh my god, its october, let's pencil in playoff brackets already!!!! luongo out for two games clearly means no playoffs at all for the canucks.


doofus