How Luongo should be honoured for his time with the Vancouver Canucks

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On Dec. 14, former goaltender, Roberto Luongo will be inducted into the Vancouver Canucks Ring of Honour. The player is famous for wearing a “1” on his jersey and is also number one all-time in statistics for Canucks goaltenders. 

Luongo will join plenty of other Canucks already inducted into the Ring of Honour such as Pat Quinn as well as former teammates Mattias Öhlund and Alex Burrows. The induction will take place before the Canucks face off against the Florida Panthers, the other NHL team Luongo has been associated with in his playing career. 

Luongo has achieved plenty of accomplishments during his time as a player, such as playing the second-most games ever for an NHL goaltender, having the fourth-most wins among NHL goaltenders of all-time, and being nominated for many other accolades. Among such, he was nominated for the best goaltender award three times, best player in the league twice, and the most valuable player in the 2006-2007 season. 

With the Canucks, Luongo saw success both individually and with the team from 2006 to 2014. During that time, the Canucks made the playoffs in six seasons, including the 2011 Stanley Cup and paraded around Vancouver hoisting the trophy. 

Among the achievements Luongo has, he holds plenty of records in the league, such as having the most wins all-time with 252 games, the most wins in a season with 44, and playing the most games in a single season with 76. The latter two records were achieved in 2006-2007, Luongo’s first season with the Canucks. 

Luongo is one of the few goaltenders to be named captain of the Canucks, holding the honour for two seasons. 

With all these accomplishments, Luongo seems like a player who could have his “1” retired with the Canucks, so the number could forever be associated with him and no future players could wear it barring special circumstances. 

For me at least, something doesn’t feel right about retiring Luongo’s “1.” 

As successful as Luongo was during his time with the Canucks, I associate him more with the Florida Panthers looking back at his career, considering he played with them for 10 seasons. Even now, Luongo is a special advisor to the Florida Panthers’ general manager. 

Another awkward circumstance is that there’s more than one player associated with Luongo’s “1,” another goaltender already inducted into the Canucks’ Ring of Honour funnily enough — Kirk McLean. While there’s not much doubt Luongo was the better goaltender of the two, something doesn’t feel good about having the “1” associated with Luongo more than McLean personally. 

There’s also the way the Canucks and Luongo parted ways in 2013-2014, his final season with the team. Before that season, Luongo was involved in a battle for playing time with Cory Schneider with Schneider believed to be the goaltender the Canucks would go with in the future. This led to Luongo being involved in plenty of trade rumours until the summer of 2013, with the Canucks shockingly trading away Schneider for the ninth overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft.

However, after missing out on playing in the 2013-2014 Heritage Classic against the Ottawa Senators, a game Luongo wanted to play in, he was traded back to the Florida Panthers later that season, leaving a complex and unique legacy in Vancouver to this day. 

This sentiment may change over time, but I think a Ring of Honour induction is enough to honour Luongo for now, but I’m sure he’ll be appreciated by plenty of fans that night nonetheless.