“Bingo bongo, Roberto Luongo” as former Canucks colourman Tom Larscheid used to say ! … yes Charlutes, that’s “exactly” the reason why this guy is still here … and that’s exactly the reason why he likely isn’t going anywhere for at least 7 more years … as puck-stoppers go, he is admittedly “decent” and should be counted as one of the top 10 “regular-season” goalies in the league … but when it really counts in the playoffs, this unlikable, Florida-based, narcissistic, poker-addicted, Michelin Man has shown himself to be a complete bust ! … even the arsonists and vandals here in Vancouver know that in their hearts … on the bright side however, the replacement of Luongo as team captain by Henrik Sedin has been an absolute Godsend and the contrast between the two is as wide as the Grand Canyon ! …

ps: should the Canucks fail again this spring, then I see Luongo and his fat contract somehow being dealt to one of the Florida teams … of course certain things would have to happen, but that is what I sincerely see transpiring …

@drew – small mind, small memory. You’re talking ONE series. Try taking those blinders off.
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try saddling the sanctimonious act, polesitter.

So, yeah, you can count those two shutouts and say he played well. But that’s an intentional oversimplification. Yeah, he got two shutouts. So did Tim Thomas. Difference is, those shutouts came in 1-0 victories, and Luongo’s other win was decided 3-2 in overtime. Get it? One-goal games, the lot of them. Contrast with two 4-0 shutouts, a 5-2 win and an 8-1 win for Thomas. At no point was Tim Thomas not an invincible death-engine. Luongo? He was the definition of hit and miss. And sure, while his team played questionably in front of him at times, they generally played well right up until Boston built an insurmountable lead. I mean, the forwards never quit. Thomas ate more shots than any goaltender ever. They did NOT stop trying. But it’s a little disheartening, you know, thinking that you’ve got to get four back on the guy because they’re scoring almost every time they see your end of the ice. That’s not on the other Canucks. That’s on Luongo. I mean, who else do you hold accountable for a seven-goal loss? Everyone played a part, but Luongo played the biggest. Accusing anyone else of being more responsible for that disaster is just insulting them.

As for the rest of your comment, well I don’t know if you are just way off base or if you are colossally biased against this player. I’ll give you some credit and just assume it’s the latter since you seem to find a way to credit the Canucks and blame Luongo at every turn.

As for his poor playoff performances the sample size is simply too small to draw meaningful conclusions from and as an avid Canucks fan I can only remember one or two games where Luongo was bad despite receiving support from the team in front of him – it’s tough to pin all the blame in an 8-1 loss on the goaltender. And anyway even considering all of these he’s still got a respectable .917 career playoff save percentage (good for 9th among active goalies with 15 or more games).

Corey Schneider is a great young player who I hope the Canucks hold onto for as long as possible. But right now he’s got one good season under his belt, and still people are talking about cutting the starter loose when he’s got the 7th highest cap hit in the league and is a good bet to be at least the 7th best goaltender year in, year out.

A blob goalie is a guy who is physically huge, wears huge pads, he’s not terribly athletic, but he’s able to take up large portions of the net and cut off the angle, effectively stopping puck without moving much. Hense, blob goalie.

Luongo seemed to me to be threatening to retire before the new, smaller pads outed him as being a glorified Giguere, a blob goalie. He takes up a lot of net, and the puck hits him.

I argue that he doesn’t have great eyes, reflexes, agility, or speed.
He’s weak in the shootout. His numbers are awful this year, on unarguably one of the top 5 teams in the NHL. Yes he goes on hot streaks, every goalie in the NHL does that from time to time. Luongos numbers look so good when he plays a few decent games because his team is incredible in front of him almost every night.

On top of all this, Luongo seems to be a headcase. Not the good kind, like Patrick Roy talking to his posts. Luongo has shrunk away in numerous playoff AND Stanley Cup games, to the point where the Canucks might have 1 or 2 Cups by now if it wasn’t for his blunders in the playoffs. Sure he had great regular season numbers, but 2 dozen other guys might very well have been able to take those teams just as far.

The only reason he is still the number 1 goalie on that team: His contract.

Its huge, and long, so you either have to bury him in the minors to get it off your salary for cap space, while still paying Luongo to not play, or you loose him to waivers for nothing, either way if you try that you look like a jerk for signing him so long term in the first place, and you’re admitting that it’s the Luongo contract that cost the team some trophies. He probably has very little trade appeal given his contract so what else can you do?

There’s only 2 other options. You can make him the worlds richest backup goalie, or you can continue to roll with him and hope your skaters are good enough to cover for his less than advertised skill set.

The Canucks have obviously chosen the latter option so far. They have 0 cups, and 1 riot to show for it.

The hockey world jumped the shark this day. I approve.

Oh, and I’d still be looking to dump him off somewhere for a good defenseman or a high draft pick, and roll with Schneider the rest of the way. Not that Lou is a bad goalie of course, but that’s a high price tag for someone who is- let’s be honest, Canucks fans- very inconsistent. Schneider is a much lower price tag for the same basic results.

All the critics should be ashamed….most of whom have probably NEVER logged a MINUTE on the ice..