No Need To Worry About Luongo
All I’ve heard since the weekend is that the Canucks are in trouble with suspect goaltending. Really? Maybe Luongo hasn’t been as good as he was in his first year, but he’s hardly had a bad year.
The guy got 40 wins this year. Except for his first season as a Canuck (47 wins in 2006-07), this was his most productive year. 5th in the league in wins.
Has he been stellar down the stretch? No, he hasn’t. Does this automatically signal an early exit from the playoffs? Hardly. Sure the defense isn’t what it once was, but it’s been widely documented that Luongo hates losing more than just about anything. Once the playoffs start is there any reason to think that he wouldn’t be ready?
What’s the other knock against Luongo? That he hasn’t been past the second round of the playoffs in his career. How much does that matter this year? Let’s see….the number of goaltenders with Stanley Cup Finals experience this season numbers precisely, two. Martin Brodeur and Marc-Andre Fleury. Sure, Ilya Bryzgalov went to the Finals a few years ago, but sitting on the bench does not qualify as experience in the Finals.
Who would you rather go into the post season with? A goaltender who’s widely considered among the best three in the game, or one of these guys (with their playoff experience): Nabokov? Bryzgalov? Ryan Miller? Craig Anderson? Jimmy Howard? Pekka Rinne? Please.
It wasn’t Fleury who got the call when things went rough for Martin Brodeur during the Olympics, was it? It was Roberto Luongo who came up with four crucial victories to help ensure Canada’s gold medal.
I have a strong feeling that the Luongo you see skate on to the ice on Thursday is going to be different than the one who struggled after the Olympics. And much better.
This post originally appeared on CanuckNation.ca - not all posts that appear here will be cross-posted from that site, and not everything that appears here will be posted on the original site. Feedback on posts is always appreciated.
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