[Report] Roberto Luongo joins Panthers front office

[SabreFan1]

1 hour ago, VIC_CITY said:

Breaking News:

 

Loui Eriksson has retired.

 

In other related news:

 

Canucks ownership has announced a 3 year $18M contract with Loui Eriksson as professional locker room fist bumper. The club has also announced the creation of a Little Things department, which Loui will head. When asked if this department had anything to do with hockey operations, Aquilini was quoted as saying "No comment". More to follow.

You're mimicking Alf.  Not a good sign.  

 

If you think that Florida actually has millions in cash to burn on a whim, you're nuts.  They can't even manage to turn a profit with the rest of the NHL subsidizing them.

[RWMc1]

17 minutes ago, SabreFan1 said:

 

I talked to my father earlier and asked him if Jacobs still lived in Orchard Park.  He said he didn't think so and that his main home is in nearby East Aurora.  That would make sense since there are former Sabres and Bills that live in that area as well.

 

I've only seen him a grand total of one time and that was years ago at a restaurant called Eckl's.  He spends winters at another home that if I remember correctly is in Florida.

 

He's actually been very generous to Buffalo.  He could have moved his company Delaware North to Boston if he wanted to but never did.  He's also donated tens of millions to the University at Buffalo (UB) as well as to local hospitals and other causes.

Yeah, it's all too easy to label someone as a villain without even knowing much about them. I'm sure even Betteman is a decent guy to those that actually know him.

 

On topic, I was booing not Louing!!!

Edited November 14, 2019 by RWMc1

[apollo]

12 hours ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Now it comes out. I'm with @apollo on this. Screw Luongo.

Yup big time. He used to be a god to me... to this day, every time I log in to my yahoo fantasy, my username is "LongLiveLordLuongo" ... but after what he pulled here, I've lost a good chunk of respect for the man I now know as Roberto Florida

 

Can't discredit the fact that from 2000-2018, there was no goalie that even came close to his level of consistent elite play. There was only 1 bad year in that time, the shortened lockout year which he had poor stats.

 

People can say Price, Lundqvist, Rinne, etc all they want, but I'm talking 2000-2018 over that specific 18 year span, no one else played that long and dominated for that long. Luongo was just simply better over a longer period of time - 18 years!

 

2018-2019 however... not so great as injuries piled up for the first ballot Hall of Famer. Roberto only played 43 games and had by far his worst career save percentage at 899% ... the year before that he only played 35ish games... he was clearly injured and could fufill his contract if he had none of those injuries.

 

Yet he somehow didn't end up on LTIR. Luongo should have done the fans that supported him and just done the right thing and gone on LTIR.

 

At the end of the day, Luongo was an icon. No other goalie had the super star pedigree to claim captaincy for an NHL team, let alone the Vancouver Canucks. He turned Vancouver from the goalie graveyard to what is now... a Mecca for goal-tending...

 

 

I respect him for his 18 years of absolute dominance... especially the part he spent with us, but I think what he and the pnathers did was garbage and I respect him less for it. He was clearly shutting it down due to his INJURIES piling up. Should be on LTIR today.

 

[khay]

So this is how Florida convinced Luongo to retire rather than go on the LTIR. 

 

I was thinking that Luongo could still make 1M per year if he goes on LTIR, so he had no reason to just retire. 

 

Sneaky.

[5Fivehole0]

22 hours ago, Alflives said:

There were a lot of people suggesting Lou had a gentleman's agreement with FLA to retire, and they would hire him on in management to pay him the money owed in a roundabout (cap circumventing) way.  No way should the league allow this.  

My thoughts exactly. If Lu came back in any form with the Panthers they should be on the hook for his cap hit again and we should lose the recapture penalty

[JM_]

On 11/13/2019 at 12:13 PM, Alflives said:

There were a lot of people suggesting Lou had a gentleman's agreement with FLA to retire, and they would hire him on in management to pay him the money owed in a roundabout (cap circumventing) way.  No way should the league allow this.  

Gary hears you. Gary don't care.

 

Fair market value as special assistant to general manager Dale Tallon is the only league concern

Elias Pettersson will pocket a mammoth payday when his entry-level contract expires following the 2020-21 NHL season. So will Quinn Hughes.

In attempting to find a salary-cap solution to lock up the budding stars long-term, any additional financial strains — like little return on Loui Eriksson’s considerable contract that has two more seasons after this campaign at US$6 million annually — can be crippling.

It’s also why the latest news regarding Roberto Luongo is having another ripple effect in Vancouver.

The former Canucks goaltender has been named a special adviser to Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon. It means the retired stopper is going to be paid and the Canucks are wondering what this means in a cap-recapture scenario that’s impacting the team’s future planning.

Luongo announced his retirement June 26 with three years remaining on his 12-year, $64-million contract. The 40-year-old Montreal native, who was battling injuries, left $3.2 million in actual salary on the table. And instead of going on long-term injury reserve, he left the Canucks and Panthers in a cap-recapture bind.

Although Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon has hired former Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo as a special assistant, none of his salary will come off Vancouver’s cap hit.Francois Laplante /  Getty Images files

The Canucks are on the hook for $3.03 million annually over three seasons and the Panthers took a $1.03 million hit. It’s why Canucks general manager Jim Benning is seeking some clarity. He’s paying Luongo not to play and now the former Vancouver employee is recouping lost salary by going to work for Tallon.

Shouldn’t there be a mechanism to reduce the recapture penalty if a retired player returns to the workforce, especially for the club he left? Benning spoke with the NHL hierarchy but didn’t get anywhere.

“I wanted to voice our displeasure with the whole thing,” Benning said Thursday morning. “Our concern was that if Roberto was to retire and left money on the table, if the team hired him he’s going to recoup his money. They (Panthers) are allowed to do that as long as the position they hired him for is at market level at an entry-level salary for a comparable position in the league.

“We exhausted all of our avenues with the league and at the end of the day — the rules are the rules. Even if it works for the team, we were told as long as it’s fair market value, he’s allowed to do that.”

What’s comparable?

“I don’t know what he’s getting paid,” added Benning. “Is it a $200,000 or $300,000 position? And even if you give him $1 million, that’s how he recoups his money. Our concern was that he is retired and left that money on the table. Was he just going to walk away or go work for the team? And how does that translate into the whole equation?

“The way the wording is set up in the CBA, that cap-recapture still counts on our cap — even if he goes to work for the team.”

 

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/ben-kuzma-no-cap-recapture-relief-for-canucks-after-panthers-hire-roberto-luongo

[Borvat]

On 11/13/2019 at 5:36 PM, Industrious1 said:

Interesting.  I figured that would have been bigger news around the League when it happened.

 

So does this mean JJ doesn't run the Board of Governors anymore?  And if not, who does?

Donald Trump.  The NHL will be HUGE.  No more penalties and everyone gets a free twitter account.  

[Provost]

On 11/13/2019 at 12:13 PM, Alflives said:

There were a lot of people suggesting Lou had a gentleman's agreement with FLA to retire, and they would hire him on in management to pay him the money owed in a roundabout (cap circumventing) way.  No way should the league allow this.  

Yep... he could have medically retired, but this way he gets to make his money anyways and save Florida cap space and LTIR concerns... and shafts us extra hard in the process.

 

[spook007]

It a flipping stink... Its the NHL and its corrupt as f....

 

Canucks together with a few others found a loop hole, and the other teams didn't like them getting an advantage, so the league hammered them.

Panthers has found a loop hole, but it only affects the Canucks, so who cares....except Canucks and their fans.

 

Meanwhile there's fans calling for Luongo to be in ROH or to the rafters....

He doesn't care about Canucks, cause his feelings were hurt by the Club...

Fair on him for looking after no. 1....  but he chose to take the offer that would hurt Canucks.

 

“My contract sucks,” Luongo said. “That’s what the problem is. Unfortunately, it’s a big factor in trading me. And it’s why I’m still here.

“I’d scrap it if I could right now.”..."

 

Luongo signed the contract himself. $64 million... Was he treated badly? Maybe, but this is professional sport. 

Give me 5 mill a year to do nothing but show up at work every day and now and again having to work... please....

Edited November 15, 2019 by spook007

[Provost]

3 hours ago, spook007 said:

It a flipping stink... Its the NHL and its corrupt as f....

 

If the NHL was interested in fairness, they would have both Luongo and the Panthers make statements under oath whether they had discussions about him joining the team before he made the decisions to (non-medically) retire.  If the answer is yes, and I have no reason to believe that Luongo would lie and potentially face legal jeopardy... that should absolutely constitute cap circumvention and the Canucks should be let off the hook and the Panthers face sanctions about it.

Otherwise why not just agree to mutually terminate Eriksson's contract and give him a 20 year contract as a Euro scout or player development guy?  I am sure you can come up with some set of duties where the "market rate" roughly equals his lost salary.

This sort of shenanigans opens a lot of doors for cap abuse.

[JM_]

1 minute ago, Provost said:

If the NHL was interested in fairness, they would have both Luongo and the Panthers make statements under oath whether they had discussions about him joining the team before he made the decisions to (non-medically) retire.  If the answer is yes, and I have no reason to believe that Luongo would lie and potentially face legal jeopardy... that should absolutely constitute cap circumvention and the Canucks should be let off the hook and the Panthers face sanctions about it.

Otherwise why not just agree to mutually terminate Eriksson's contract and give him a 20 year contract as a Euro scout or player development guy?  I am sure you can come up with some set of duties where the "market rate" roughly equals his lost salary.

This sort of shenanigans opens a lot of doors for cap abuse.

you're 100% correct, and Jim should offer Loui something similar. Base salary + "management performance bonuses". &^@# Bettman, I'm glad I got to boo that greasy p.o.s. 

[spook007]

1 hour ago, Provost said:

If the NHL was interested in fairness, they would have both Luongo and the Panthers make statements under oath whether they had discussions about him joining the team before he made the decisions to (non-medically) retire.  If the answer is yes, and I have no reason to believe that Luongo would lie and potentially face legal jeopardy... that should absolutely constitute cap circumvention and the Canucks should be let off the hook and the Panthers face sanctions about it.

Otherwise why not just agree to mutually terminate Eriksson's contract and give him a 20 year contract as a Euro scout or player development guy?  I am sure you can come up with some set of duties where the "market rate" roughly equals his lost salary.

This sort of shenanigans opens a lot of doors for cap abuse.