Roberto Luongo to have No. 1 retired by Panthers

On Saturday night, when the Florida Panthers host the Montreal Canadiens, Roberto Luongo will become the first player in franchise history to have his number retired.

Luongo, who had two separate stints with Florida, spent 11 seasons donning the No. 1 with the franchise. The goaltender is the team’s all-time leader in games played (572), wins (230), saves (16,086), and shutouts (38).

“I’m extremely honoured, don’t get me wrong,” Luongo said to the Associated Press. “It’s a great honour and being the first player, all that stuff, is great. And in the last week it’s gotten a lot more real to me with people getting here and getting tickets and going over my speech and all that. I’m going to make sure that I embrace it because it is special.”

It’s only fitting Luongo’s jersey will be retired against his hometown Canadiens. Each Panthers player in the game’s warmup will be wearing Luongo’s No. 1, and the jersey-retiring ceremony will commence two hours before puck drop.

Over his career, Luongo ranks third all-time in goalie wins (489) and ninth all-time in shutouts (77).

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