Welcome to this edition of "From The Archive". In this recurring series, we open The Hockey News' vault and display some of the top Vancouver Canucks related articles from the past. Today's article comes from Volume 60, Issue 22, where Mike Brophy wrote about Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo.
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My Time Has Come, Volume 60, Issue 22, February 20, 2007
Roberto Luongo generally lets his actions do his speaking for him.
But when he’s reminded – for about the millionth time, much to his annoyance – about the fact he has yet to appear in a playoff game after six NHL seasons, the 27-year-old Luongo makes a Messieresque prediction: “I will be in the playoffs this year. Nothing will stop me!”
That’s a pretty bold statement from a guy who, it could be argued, tends goal for a team that is not significantly better than either the Islanders or Panthers were when he played for them. Not only that, the Canucks play in the tightest division in the NHL, the Northwest, where very few points separate first place from last and the conference’s No. 3 seed is in danger of falling out of the playoffs completely. Although Vancouver has been hot of late, there is still a lot of hockey to be played and the season will end in heartache for at least two, if not more Northwest teams.
Of the eight Western Conference teams sitting in playoff spots as of Feb. 7, Vancouver was tied with Dallas for the fewest goals scored (144) and were tied for fourth in goals-allowed (138). The team’s top scorer, Daniel Sedin, used a five-point explosion against Edmonton Feb. 6 to climb above the point-per-game pace with 55 in 53 outings, which left him trailing the NHL’s leading scorer, Sidney Crosby, by 31 points. Markus Naslund, once a Hart Trophy contender and top-five forward in the NHL, had just 17 goals in 54 games, though he was coming to life playing with the Sedin twins.
On the flip side, the Canucks have an underrated defense and a a rising star in Kevin Bieksa to go with a sixth-year power forward in Taylor Pyatt who is finally showing signs of being a consistent offensive contributor. And their penalty-killing has been utterly superb.
At the end of the day, though, the Canucks will go only as far as Luongo carries them.
“I feel different this year,” Luongo says. “I don’t really know how to explain it, other than to say I just have this feeling this is the year for me. I feel my time has come and that I have elevated my game. Just look at the way our team is playing now. It seems like every year I have been on teams that do OK in the first half, but then fade in the second half. This year, we went on a seven-game winning streak after Christmas and we have continued to play well.”
Indeed, the Canucks won seven straight contests, including five against Northwest rivals and two in Calgary. Not only that, since Dec. 26 Vancouver had 13 wins, three regulation losses, an overtime defeat and two shootout losses. All told, that’s 13-3-3…not bad. And while it appears Calgary is positioning itself to be the power in the Northwest, having scored 26 more goals than the Canucks while allowing three fewer (with a game in hand), we all know what can happen in the Western Conference if a team makes the playoffs and then gets hot.
When the Canucks traded controversial right winger Todd Bertuzzi to Florida last summer, they weren’t just getting rid of a monster migraine. They were, in theory, addressing a problem in the crease that has plagued them since Kirk McLean was the main man back in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
Since then, the likes of Arturs Irbe, Sean Burke, Corey Hirsch, Kevin Weekes, Garth Snow, Bob Essensa, Felix Potvin, Johan Hedberg, Dan Cloutier and Alex Auld stopped the occasional puck, but not the bleeding.
“Having Roberto definitely helps,” says Vancouver GM Dave Nonis. “We’ve seen for a long time that if you don’t have quality goaltending in our league, you don’t have much of a chance to win. We are fortunate now to have somebody we feel we can build around and who can steal games for us.”
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After growing tired of playing deal or no deal in Florida in terms of getting an agreeable contract, Luongo convinced the Canucks he was worth $27 million over four years. Now he has to earn it.
Luongo has enjoyed more than his share of small successes and occasional highs along the way, even if the NHL playoffs have continually eluded him. When the Isles took him fourth overall in 1997, it was the highest a goalie had ever been drafted. He was outstanding for Canada in winning a silver medal at the 1999 World Junior Championship and stopped 37 of 39 shots in the gold medal game to help Canada win the 2003 World Championship. And, in 2004 when Martin Brodeur was unable to play the semifinal of the World Cup because of a sore wrist, Luongo stepped in and played admirably, leading his side to victory.
THE WHOLE REASON YOU PLAY HOCKEY IS TO BE IN THE PLAYOFFS.
Nonis says he had no hesitation handing Luongo the big bucks – as well as four years – on his deal.
“We felt very strongly that he had proven himself at an extremely high level,” says Nonis, alluding to Luongo’s international triumphs.
With the Islanders and Panthers, Luongo was best known for the high number of shots he faced night after night, as much a damnation of the players skating in front of him as a testament to his ability to stop pucks. Consider: In the previous three seasons with Florida, Luongo faced 40 or more shots in a game 45 times. In 50 games with Vancouver, he faced that many just five times.
“That was one of the biggest challenges I faced early in the year, not facing as many shots as I was used to,” Luongo says. “Last year I averaged 35 shots against and suddenly I’m getting 20. The thing is, we were still in tight games, so I really had to learn to stay focused to make sure I was on the ball after going through longer stretches without a shot than I was used to.”
At the start it was tough. He was somewhat inconsistent in the first half. Although, to be fair, the Canucks were a team in transition and it’s often too easy to blame the goalie for losses. The Canucks weren’t exactly a scoring juggernaut. Since the Christmas break, both the Canucks and their savior have been much more consistent.
Luongo has given Vancouver a foundation of dependability that allows them to go out and win. Prior to his arrival, the Canucks were a run-and-gun team that never really had the gunners or goaltending to support that style.
“He has played extremely well since he got used to the new environment,” says Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault. “His play, I think, picked up when he got used to the fact he had a team in front of him that would give him support. I think there is a transition for players when they go to a new team. Now he knows he only has to worry about staying on top of his own game.”
Great goalies steal games for their teams and Luongo has done that this year. The Dallas Stars outshot Vancouver 40-21 Jan. 3, but the Canucks won 2-1 in a shootout. Ottawa dominated Vancouver 35-14 on the shot clock Jan. 18, but Luongo led the Canucks to a 2-1 win. Vancouver was outshot 39-24 by San Jose Jan. 28, but won 3-1.
“Early in the year some fluke goals got past him,” Vigneault says. “In Florida that might not be a big deal, but we are a team that doesn’t score a lot so they are a big deal. Our division is tight so every game, every goal we score and allow counts big. He is a guy who wants to prove he can take a team to the dance.”
Adds an NHL pro scout: “The Canucks now have every confidence they can play in tight games and he has alleviated the pressure on some of his teammates to score.” After 50 games, Luongo was tied for second in the NHL in wins (30), was sixth in save percentage (.920) and ninth in goals-against average (2.36). His value to the Canucks is obvious – he’s 30-18-3 on the season while backup Dany Sabourin is 0-3-1. There even has been talk of his candidacy for the Hart Trophy, although there are fans in New Jersey – there are still fans there, right? – who would argue Brodeur has been the league’s best stopper this season. And the good folks in Detroit are pushing Dominik Hasek for the Vezina Trophy, too.
In South Florida, Luongo could have taken a stroll down Main Street wearing his face mask and a Speedo and nobody would have turned a head, but that’s not the case in hockey-mad Vancouver where he is the face of the Canucks.
“It is definitely different, especially compared to the beginning of the year when I could pretty much walk around town unnoticed,” Luongo says. “Now people are starting to recognize me. You leave your house to run an errand that should take 15 minutes and it ends up taking an hour because people want to stop you to ask for autographs and talk hockey.
“It’s not such a bad thing. You can just feel the passion people in Vancouver have for hockey.”
And now he is on a mission to repay them.
“Last season in Florida we made a push for the playoffs near the end, but it wasn’t enough,” Luongo says. “The whole reason you play hockey is to be in the playoffs. So it has been very frustrating for me. Right now I can tell you there is a whole lot of excitement out there.”
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