[David Bruce]

In Luongo's first year in Vancouver, he didn't even attempt to play the puck outside of the net (at the order of the coaches, I'm sure). I often wondered how a guy could play for so many years at an elite level with Luongo's work ethic and yet never fill out that part of his game. Hmm... maybe Florida just never managed to get the puck out of their zone the whole time he was there.

But last year at the beginning of the season, it looked like he had aquired a new skill. He was coming of the net and making a nice first pass up to the defenceman. Not a superstar pass, but just a regular competant pass. But this year (and probably the end of last year) it seems like he has regressed a lot. Obviously there was the bad goal in the Minny game today. But aside from that, there just doesn't seem to be anything productive coming out of having him play the puck. Too often he is "laying out" the defenders in the way that a quarterback can lay out his receiver.

There are typically 2 situations in which a goalie plays the puck:

1. The opponents shoot the puck down the ice, but not quite enough for icing. Then they go for a line change, so there is usually no forecheck.

In this case, I don't see any point in the goalie playing the puck at all. It's going about 1 MPH by the time it gets down to the defensive zone. All Luongo does is to stop the puck and set it up for the defenseman, who is usually lollygagging on his way back. This only saves the defenseman about 1/10th of a second. Fine, if you're Marty Turco then stop the puck and see if you can catch the opponents on a bad change, but what purpose does it serve for Luongo to do it?

2. The opponents shoot the puck in from centre ice and there is a forecheck.

This is where Luongo's weak puck handling skills really come back to bite us. Lu gets to the puck first and controls it, but then he doesn't know what to do with it. One of our defenseman is usually coming back, with a forechecker in close pursuit. Lu doesn't know what to do and he panics, typically shooting the puck up the boards (away from the first forechecker, but towards where most teams put their 2nd man in). I've been watching over time when Lu handles the puck in these circumstances and the other team will recover the puck more than 50% of the time. Then he's got to scramble back into his net, and this sometimes results in a scoring chance (like today).

The sad thing is that if Lu hadn't touched the puck, the defenceman was probably going to get to the puck before the forechecker anyway. Then he would at least have a chance to carry the puck up the boards instead of blindly shooting it towards the oncoming rush. When Lu does manage to pass the puck to one of our defensemen, too often the placement is not good enough and our defenceman gets smoked by the forechecker. (Good thing they replaced the boards at GM place this year or Salo would be a bloody mess by now.)

As defeatist as it sounds, I think that if Luongo hasn't learn to play the puck by now, perhaps he just doesn't have the ability to learn that skill and we should just go back to having him remain in the net like he did in season 1.

[BoggyDepot]

I agree, I always wonder why he comes out to touch the puck when its moving 1mph and the d-man clearly has it. maybe he just gets bored and wants to touch it

This post has been edited by BoggyDepot: 04 March 2009 - 04:27 AM

[He-Man]

very well said DAvidBruce

I have noticed what u have said... but u put it very eloquently. nicely said.

I think the diff between Turko n Luongo is that of aggression and confidence. Lu maybe needs more practice

[Luvin_my_Nucks]

Nice read... all which is true. I think that Lu should stay in his crease since his puck handling skills arent the greatest, I always tense up when his handling the puck or leaves his crease.

[BLAZIN SKULL 85]

it would be great if turco could teach luongo how to handle the puck during the off season

[Russ]

I would be happy if Luongo never left his crease.

[Li'l Fra]

I'm constantly yelling at Roberto to stay in his "bleepin" net!

That first goal last night could be blamed on Wellwood. But only if you ignore the fact that Louie blindly chucked the puck up the boards to a Minny player. Wellwood tried to intercept it as it was shot at the net and unfortunately the puck went in off his stick.

Louie needs to get it together or stay in the net.

He constantly shoots the puck away from his D-men to an oncoming player on the other team.

He really is atrocious at handling the puck.

That being said, I think Luongo is GREAT!






How about that Burrows though?

[Forever16]

IMO Turco is one of the best puck handlers. so when we watch/hear of his puck control skill natural it makes him show some lack in this department.

[amkia]

i also would preffer luongo to stay in his crease, but ive played goalie befor and it can get boring when my team was hemming the other team in their own zone. because of how boring it is, the goalie will give himself something to do. some goalies colect patches of snow, most of them decide to get in the play by stoping a puck that is moving half a meter/second when in reality they are just causing harm to their team (turko is an exception because is a very good puckhandler).

This post has been edited by amkia: 04 March 2009 - 08:30 AM

[kateycanuck]

I'm constantly shouting at Luongo to be a good dog and stay in his kennel. He just can't resist the urge to play with the rubber ball bouncing around in the yard. He makes me have to hold my breath more often than I would like. He's a fabulous goaltender when he stays in the crease, why does he risk showing off his average side so often? I agree with the poster above that he just gets a bit bored and needs to touch the puck to keep himself active in the game.

[LeafsBlowPouch]

Russ, on Mar 4 2009, 06:38 AM, said:

I would be happy if Luongo never left his crease.

Exactly. AV should just tell him never to leave the crease....EVER.

[ben_17]

lou needs to stay in the net, its where hes best.

[Whoopsy]

3 of our goalies made the stupid mistake of playing the puck and cost us at least a goal this year, our goalies have absolutely NO SKILL AT ALL on puck handling.

That said, Luongo is especially bad, I think he leads the league in that department, I really don't know when is he gonna learn. If the Canucks want a puck handling goalie, we would have traded for Turco a long time ago.

AV should be put on the hot seat for letting him leave the crease.

[pavlelink]

LeafsBlowPouch, on Mar 4 2009, 07:37 AM, said:

Exactly. AV should just tell him never to leave the crease....EVER.

EEVVVVERRRR.... (dun dun duuuun)

[debluvscanucks]

I'm with you guys in the stay in your net thinking....Lu's puck handling needs work and during a game is not the time to practice that. I also think it disrupts his focus and after he gets back into the crease he's not set up properly in case he does need to make a save.

[Wetcoaster]

Last night at the game, I am sitting watching the the opening few minutes. I see Luongo going for the Minny shoot-in and I say to my partner - "Oh God no - stay in the net."

Kid in front of me turns around and says "Shut up" .. just as Luongo gives the puck away and Minny buries the puck. His buddies razz him for the rest of the game and he does not say another word.

This post has been edited by Wetcoaster: 04 March 2009 - 09:16 AM

[avelanch]

Honestly, he's been getting better, and is much better than he was. It's one of the parts of his game he is working on, but it's not the highest priority. I just hope he doesn't try to handle the puck too much in the playoffs.

[Wetcoaster]

avelanch, on Mar 4 2009, 08:34 AM, said:

Honestly, he's been getting better, and is much better than he was. It's one of the parts of his game he is working on, but it's not the highest priority. I just hope he doesn't try to handle the puck too much in the playoffs.

You did watch the game last night did you not?

[WellwoodSMASH]

Russ, on Mar 4 2009, 08:38 AM, said:

I would be happy if Luongo never left his crease.

Same. Luongo is as good as cloutier once he leaves his crease.

[ella604]

Lui should just stay in his crease...

After he came back, he is not as good as before..