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Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo reveals how he found out about Schneider trade

NHL Awards Show

during the 2011 NHL Awards at The Pearl concert theater at the Palms Casino Resort June 22, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bruce Bennett

Roberto Luongo won’t forget where he was or what he was doing when teammate and fellow goaltender Cory Schneider was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the New Jersey Devils.

It wasn’t that long ago, the day of the NHL Draft on June 30.

Luongo was at his house in Florida, when he got a call from Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini.

“He was in Florida and asked if he could come visit me. So I was like, ‘Yeah, no problem,’” Luongo told TSN’s James Duthie during an interview that ran Friday on SportsCentre.

“I thought he just wanted to talk to me about my future and stuff like that. He showed up about three, four picks into the draft. So he hits on my couch and asks me to turn my TV off. I was like ‘OK,’ because I was watching the draft.

“I turned it off and we start talking and all of a sudden he tells me that (Schneider) has been traded. As he’s telling me this, my phone starts blowing up at the same time. It was perfect timing. I was kind of floored, to be honest with you. Out of all the situations that I envisioned that could possibly happening to me, that wasn’t one of them.”

As we’ve covered over and over again, the Canucks had been trying - unsuccessfully - to deal Luongo and his 12-year, $64 million contract since he was placed on the bench as the back-up in Vancouver midway through the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.

At that time, Schneider took over as the starter.

At this year’s draft, the Canucks did the unexpected and dealt Schneider to New Jersey for the ninth overall selection.

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