Fan debate drags on as former Canuck Luongo enters Ring of Honour
Posted December 14, 2023 7:23 am.
Last Updated December 14, 2023 3:31 pm.
It’s been more than a year since the Vancouver Canucks announced former goaltender, Hall of Famer, and Olympic gold medallist Roberto Luongo was being inducted into the team’s Ring of Honour.
Despite how much time has passed, there are still some who think he deserves to have his number retired instead.
Mike Halford, host on Sportsnet 650, described it as the “unintended consequences of [the Canucks] trying to do something good.”
“The problem … is you created two tiers of famous Canucks — the really good ones — and it wasn’t meant to be that way, it’s just how it’s played out,” said Halford.
“The obvious debate point is going to be Roberto Luongo is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but theoretically, is not in your team hall of fame. It’s all made it super complex, which is sad because all it was supposed to be was honouring the best goalie the Canucks have ever had.”
Halford explained that regardless of the move, it shouldn’t detract anything from Thursday’s festivities, the team, or Luongo himself.
“He’s being honoured, just not in the way that everyone wants him to [be], and it’s made it really uncomfortable and really awkward.”
One sticking point is that if ‘1’ is raised to the rafters for Luongo, what happens for Kirk McLean, who also wore the number and helped his team get to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
“Can you retire for one and not the other? Do both go into the Ring of Honour and do we just make it simple? And then it becomes this long, arduous debate about the merits of the Ring of Honour [being] less symbolic than having your jersey retired. Yes, but can you do it when both guys have worn number 1? I don’t know and then it goes on, and on, and on,” said Halford.
Despite the argument that Luongo should have his jersey retired by the Canucks, Halford also thinks Lu was more closely tied to the Florida Panthers during his career, rather than Vancouver.
“He spent 14 years there, compared to nine in Vancouver. He had higher moments in Vancouver, but a longer tenure [in Florida]. He also now works for the organization. He lives down there. He’s more a Panther by a smidge than a Canuck. If he had to wear a hat into the Hall of Fame … I say he’d wear a Panthers hat, if it was his choice.”
Luongo’s time with the Canucks started well but ended on a sour note.
“His time in Florida, it started there and ended there — it was a nice syrupy narrative, it was all good vibes. [In Vancouver], there’s a lot of weird vibes. He got replaced and then was the guy again and then replaced again, and there was the Heritage Classic game, it was the final straw and [he] quickly orchestrated his exit. There’s all these odd moments along the way.”
Despite Luongo retiring from the NHL in 2019 and not having played for the Canucks in almost a decade, Halford believes his legacy in this city is still being written.
“It’s going to be one of those great barroom debates that’ll never ever be solved because there’s really good arguments on both sides and it’s pretty polarizing.”
Speaking to Sportsnet 650 on Thursday morning, Luongo called it an “unbelievable honour,” and admitted he’s had an emotional week.
He was asked what he wants parents to tell their kids when they take them to a game and see his name.
“Just a guy who went out there every night, played hard and competed and loved the game of hockey. It was in my blood since I was little kid and every time I went out on the ice, I wanted to be the best at it and that’s where the fire came from for me.”
He shared that he remembers his first year with the team really well, and from his second year to the 2010 Olympics, those years are all a blur.
Luongo said he grew a lot, as a person, during his time in Vancouver.
“I think by the time I left, I was a different person, a better person. I’m really grateful for that. Even though it wasn’t always easy for me, but I think I learned a lot. I think that’s one of the most important things that I’ll remember from my time here is the person that I am today, I wouldn’t be that person had I not been here all those years.”
Luongo said he struggled to deal with the media and didn’t take criticism well.
“That was something I wasn’t used to, and I was my biggest critic of myself but when I would hear it from other people, for some reason, I’d be very guarded about it.
“That was a mistake obviously, on my part and I grew, and I learned. In the last two or three years when I was here, I tried to have a lot more of an open relationship with the media, just trying to be a bit more cordial and not be so defensive all the time.”
The 44-year-old was traded back to the Panthers in March of 2014, four years after signing a 12-year, $64 million contract extension with Vancouver — a contract he later criticized. Given the terms of the deal, part of his salary remained on the Canucks’ books for years after he was shipped off to the sunshine state.
Luongo is the most successful netminder in Canucks history with 252 wins. Over the span of his career, he had 77 shutouts, 38 of them with Vancouver. He also received Vezina nominations in 2004, 2007, and 2011.
In 2020, his jersey number was officially retired by the Panthers, the first player in their team history to get that distinction.
Former Canucks who’ve had their jerseys retired are the Sedin twins (22, 33), Stan Smyl (12), Trevor Linden (16), Markus Naslund (19) and Pavel Bure (10).
