[Report] Luongo Requests A Trade During Exit Meeting With Gillis

[grumpworsley]

I mean, I might rather see Luongo win a cup with Toronto...............Looooooooooool

[poetica]

Not good news if it's true.

I get it from Luo's prespective. He's always treated like crap here by the "fans" and media whereas Cory can do no wrong. When Luo wins, it's just his job and nothing special. In fact, more often than not people just found a reason to complain about how he could have won "better." When he messes up like all human beings do, he's the worst goalie in the world trying to ruin everything for his entire team. But, when Cory plays well, it's a national tragedy (and Luongo's personal fault) that he's not #1 and when he doesn't play well (e.g. his last regular season game in Calgary) no one even seems to notice, or gets called a Cory hater for mentioning it.

But that blows majorly from the team's perspective. Right now, we're sitting pretty with two #1 goalies. When one's a little off, we can just put in the other one. It takes the pressure off of them but keeps up their level of competitiveness. But if Luo leaves, that all changes. All of the pressure and attention shifts entirely to Cory, who hasn't been proven to be able to handle it because he's never actually faced it. He's never had to play and know he's the #1 and it's up to him to carry the team. He's never had the media attention and fan focus on him like it has been on Luo, second guessing his every move. People might think his uncertainty and sometimes obvious panic in playing the puck behind the net is cute now, but I guarantee you it's the first reason people will use to rip him apart the second he's made the starter.

And that's just the start of the problem a Luo trade would create for the team. As much as I like Lack and think he will be great, we don't even know if he's NHL ready yet. Even Gillis said he'll have to wait and see. So, getting rid of Luo to bump Cory up to the starter position leaves us majorly exposed in terms of known goaltending depth, which is not something we've had to deal with for several years now. What happens if Cory doesn't perform as well as we would like, needs to take a few games off just to rest, or, hockey gods forbid!, gets injured? Where will the team be then?

I said it in another thread and I'll repeat it here: I would like to see Cory sign a 2-year deal with a guarantee (or at least sincere promise) of more starts. I think they should share the split the starts about 60/40 (for Luo) but the starts should be performance based instead of scheduled starts for one or the other. We go with the hot goaltender until he needs a rest or loses his groove. Having 2 elite goaltenders isn't a curse, it's a blessing we're p*ssing away!

[The Situation]

Lol glad that you sigged Merci saying Schnieds is the next Patrick Roy lol

And I agree.. its one thing to not care if Lu goes, but to not pay him the respect he deserves for being our Goaltender for his time here and all the great he's done is nothing short of a complete disgrace on the part of the fans of this city. I'm actually really disgusted by the way he's been treated after all he's done here. People seem happy to keep throwing up stats to make him look average, but he is a leader, and people seem to not care about his intangibles.

I just hope that people will giev Schnieder the respect he deserves before they run him outta town in 3-5 years from now. I'm worried for him if he becomes our starter..

[DIBdaQUIB]

I think Gillis is smart enough to let Roberto wait for the emotions of a letdown by the team in the last 3rd of the season to settle down and let cooler heads prevail. Great teams are built from the goal, out, and this team's success has been built from Luongo, outward. The team peaked, like Gillis said, from the Bruins tilt back in January. From then onward, it was exceptional goaltending that won a lot of games (by 1 goal margins) that the Canucks had no business winning. The 1st round exit was not Luongo's fault. AV made the decision to stick with Corey to try every which way to get his under-performing team going.

We're just speculating that Schneider is going to be as great a goalie as Luongo. Schneids has had a great showing so far but he hasn't done it over a full season while carrying the pressure of being no. 1. With Luongo, you can be sure that, more games than not, goaltending is not going to be a concern.

Gillis is in control and I think he's not going to cave in to Luongo's wish. He's gonna sit down with Lu and bring him to his senses, and affirm that Lu is the cornerstone of this franchise. I think Gillis is going to trade Corey (for a sniper and a solid defenseman to succeed Salo) and affirm Luongo's #1 status with the club- a position he has held since arriving. (I am hoping that if its Toronto, then we'd get Kessel and Gunnarson in return).

Psychology is such an important part of a goaltender's game - its the fine line between being on your game and playing like a sieve. There are no guarantees that Schneider can carry a no. 1 load (in games and this hockey-mad town pressure) for the duration of a full regular season and playoffs. Luongo has the track record, experience and proven ability to be among the top 5 goalies in the league. He's worth every penny of his elite contract and the Canucks would be fools to let him walk in a trade for players far less in value.

[D-Money]

By the way, the suggestion that this "forces Gillis' hand" is not valid.

Gillis' hand was already being forced. Neither goalie wants to be back-up or in a 41-game tandem. And we're not going to spend over 8 million of our cap on a goaltending situation that either one of them hates or both are not happy in.

Luongo is making clear that he's not only ready to move on, but quite happy to do so. I don't see how this affects the suitors or possible return at all, other than letting them know they'd be getting a motivated guy.

[coho8888]

I don't care, if Luongo voluntarily asked to be traded out of Vancouver. I can feel the stress he has been having from the Vancouver fans, and perhaps, other NHL fans. If he moves to another team, I'll cheer for the team he joins. This is my way of respecting Luongo until the end.

[DIBdaQUIB]

I mean, I might rather see Luongo win a cup with Toronto...............Looooooooooool

[Tanev's Smirk]

Then you are a Lu fan not a Cancuks fan. ENjoy watching your Leafs re-build for the next 5 years.

[Merci]

There are tangible reasons a goalie is good or bad.

Luongo had a groin injury, when he slides form left to right he falls down leaving a backhanded roofer available every time a skilled guy dekes.

Schneider has a solid positional save that will never result in a goal like this, even when he slid across on Brown's penalty shot his stick was on the ice.

Pretty sure Lu would over commit trying to make a flashy save and fail.

I don't know how you can look at Luongo and say 6 years of elite goal tending without saying 7+ 6 goal games in 3 playoffs.

Yea.......

[Deadweed]

I can remember when he came here and all the hype surrounding us FINALLY getting an "elite" goaltender. I was stoked!!

The problem was, he had not proven himself as an "elite" goaltender in Florida. The ASSUMPTION was made, based on his athletic ability, that if he were to go to a better team, that ability would shine through and propel him into the stratosphere of NHL goaltending history.

I'm being critical but some of you need to see it. He is a good goalie, but unfortunately the term "over rated" definitely applies here.

Having said all that, it's bee a fun ride the last 6 years. We still don't have a cup though, and it's time to make some changes before this core is too old.

Schneider should get the job. He's earned the opportunity.

[Scoobydooby]

I am not sure about the other fans but what bothered me about Luongo is how he had a ridiculously expensive and long contract. However, he did not live up to his contract in crucial playoff games. When other players like the Sedins took huge discounts to play in Vancouver, Luongo did not.

If Schneider gets a decent contract and I am sure Gillis will not make the same mistake again, the expectations of his performance should be reasonable.

[nucklebucker]

Luongo's $10 million dollar season was paid out last year.

Moving forward, the money commitment is 6 years @ $6,716,000 per. The last 4 years of this contract were designed such that he could retire and the cap hit comes off the books (Pre 35 year old signing).

6.7 million is modest for a top 5 elite calibre goaltender, and he is signed for term. This is the key negotiating leverage that Gillis should take advantage of. When you break it down, and the fact that the cap hit is only 5.33 Million, this "bad contract" suddenly doesn't look so bad, 40 million over 6 years of actual money to an elite goaltender.

Some comparisons:

Henrik Lundqvist cap hit: 6.875 Million

Pekka Rinne cap hit: 7.00 Million

Bryzgalov cap hit: 5.66 Million

Ryan Miller cap hit: 6.25 Million

Niklas Backstrom cap hit: 6.00 Million

And just for good measure:

Rick DiPietro cap hit: 4.50 Million.

By comparison Luongo @ 5.33 and his resume is a mind blowing bargain. Gillis will have no trouble finding a suitor willing to pay Luongo 40 million over 6 years.

[D-Money]

Having 2 elite goaltenders isn't a curse, it's a blessing we're p*ssing away!

[Scoobydooby]

I'm not certain how important those intangibles are anymore when Roberto has asked for a trade as soon as his starting role has been threatened. He has shown little loyalty to this city by doing this; while the fanbase has criticized him for his various struggles and meltdowns throughout the past few seasons, he has often ignored the criticism and played through it, citing that the team is his only concern. Now that Cory has challenged him for the starting role, he has reacted by arranging a potential trade to another pressure-filled market.

That can easily be interpreted as a lack of loyalty to the team on his behalf. The leadership qualities you speak of are not present right now. In fact, one redeeming factor about the playoffs is that Roberto played well. He is not at fault for our lack of success this year. If anything, he is playing some of his best hockey and could have looked forward to an even better season next year.

[smurf47]

The one thing that makes me question Lou's" team first" stance. He tried to force the hands of the Panthers re his contract...and forced the Canucks hand before he signed the long term contract. Sounds pretty much like a "me first" position !!

[canuck_Pride]

Wasn't he meeting with Gillis on Friday?

[goblix]

Then you are a Lu fan not a Cancuks fan. ENjoy watching your Leafs re-build for the next 5 years.

[Merci]

The cap is currently 62 million. There is a lot of suggestion that it will actually go down under the next CBA, but let's operate under the assumption it is staying the same.

Schneider's next contract will be at least 3 million, if not close to 4. So combined with Lu's 5.333, keeping both would involve spending approximately 9 million of our cap on goaltending - 14.5% of our cap.

1/7 of our cap on one position? Around half of it sitting on the bench for the entirety of any given game? How is that a blessing?

[goblix]

I would agree--he's good cap value for the next while. But ... the team taking the contract will have a cap hit of 5.3 until he is 43 years old!!!!!! How likely is that to be good value? Sure he can retire, but how long does he play for after he starts to lose it? One year, two, four, six? No doubt, that brings his value down.

On the other hand, the way to handle those years is to send the contract to a poor team who gets to pay small money for a big cap hit to bring them over the cap-floor. Still, he might not want to go to Albakerky or whatever small market team exists in 2022. That has to scare teams a bit.

[samurai]

Wow people believe everything they read or hear.