Background and career
Roberto Luongo (born April 4, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a goaltender for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Vancouver Canucks. In 2022, Luongo was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Luongo is a two-time NHL All-Star (2004 and 2007) and winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy for backstopping his team to the lowest goals against average in the league (2011, with backup Cory Schneider). He was a finalist for several awards, including the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender (2004, 2007, and 2011), the Lester B. Pearson Award as the top player voted by his peers (2004 and 2007), and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player (2007). Luongo is third all-time in games played as an NHL goaltender (1,044) and fourth all-time in wins (489). He employed the butterfly style of goaltending. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the Val-d'Or Foreurs and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, winning back-to-back President's Cups and establishing the league's all-time playoff records for games played and wins. Following his second QMJHL season, Luongo was selected fourth overall by the Islanders in the 1997 NHL entry draft. After splitting his professional rookie season between the Islanders and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters in 1999–2000, he was traded to the Panthers. In five seasons with Florida, Luongo established team records for games played, wins, and shutouts; despite several strong seasons, however, the Panthers remained a weak team and were unable to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs during Luongo's initial stint with the team. During the 2006 offseason, he was traded to the Canucks after failed contract negotiations with the Panthers. In his first season in Vancouver, Luongo won 47 games, and was runner-up for both the Hart Memorial Trophy (league MVP) and Vezina Trophy (best goaltender). Following his second year with the Canucks, he became the first NHL goaltender to serve as a team captain since Bill Durnan in the 1947–48 season. Luongo served in that capacity for two seasons before resigning from the position in September 2010. In the subsequent 2010–11 season, he helped the Canucks to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final but lost to the Boston Bruins. During his eight-year tenure with Vancouver, Luongo became the team's all-time leader in wins and shutouts. He returned to the Panthers during the 2013–14 season, where he spent the remainder of his career, qualifying for the playoffs with the Panthers only once during that time. He was the last active goaltender to have played in the NHL in the 1990s. Following his playing career, Luongo joined the Panthers' front office as an executive, ultimately winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2024 and 2025. Internationally, Luongo has competed for Team Canada in numerous tournaments. As a junior, he won a silver medal at the 1999 World Junior Championships, while being named Best Goaltender in his second tournament appearance. Luongo won two gold medals at the 2003 and 2004 World Championships and a silver in the 2005 World Championships. He also won the 2004 World Cup championship and appeared in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin as a backup to Martin Brodeur in both instances. He succeeded Brodeur as Canada's starting goaltender during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, winning a gold medal. On January 7, 2014, he was named to the 2014 Canadian Olympic hockey team, where he won his second Olympic gold medal in a largely backup role to Carey Price.
Luongo was born to Pasqualina and Antonio Luongo in Montreal, Quebec. His father is an Italian immigrant, born in Santa Paolina, Avellino. He worked in the construction and delivery of furniture, while Luongo's mother, an Irish-Canadian, worked in marketing with Air Canada. Antonio and Pasqualina married in Montreal after Antonio immigrated there in 1976. Luongo has two younger brothers, Leo and Fabio, who also aspired to be goaltenders. Fabio progressed the further of the two, playing Junior A in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) with the Williams Lake Timberwolves in 2004–05 before injuries ended his career. He has since become a Junior AAA coach, while Leo is a goaltending coach with HC Lugano. Luongo and his family lived in Saint-Leonard, Quebec, a borough north of Montreal with a strong Italian community, just four blocks away from Martin Brodeur, who became the goaltender for the New Jersey Devils six years before Luongo entered the NHL. Luongo is fluent in English, French and Italian. His father spoke Italian and his mother spoke English with a little French at home. Luongo graduated from Montreal Francophone high school Antoine de St-Exupéry in 1996. He began playing organized hockey at the age of eight as a forward. His father taught all his sons soccer and Luongo played until he was 14, at which point he decided to concentrate on hockey. Although he initially had the desire to play in net, his parents wanted him to develop his skating first. Several years later, after Luongo was cut from a peewee team, he made the switch to goaltender. At 11 years old, his team's usual goaltender did not show up and after begging his mother, still hesitant about Luongo playing the position, he went in net and posted a shutout. In August 2009, the arena in which Luongo played his minor hockey in St. Leonard was named after him as the Roberto Luongo Arena. It is the second arena in the community to be named after an NHL goaltender after the Martin Brodeur Arena was renamed as such in 2000. By 15, Luongo was playing midget with Montreal-Bourassa, the same team that produced NHL Quebecer goaltenders Brodeur and Félix Potvin. Luongo has credited Hall of Fame goaltender Grant Fuhr as his inspiration growing up, citing an admiration for his "spectacular glove saves". He had the opportunity to first meet Fuhr before a game against the Calgary Flames during his rookie season with the Islanders.
The Val-d'Or Foreurs made Luongo the highest-drafted goaltender in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) history, at second overall, in 1995. He began his junior career in the 1995–96 season with Val-d'Or and posted six wins in 23 games played. As the team's starting goaltender the following season in 1996–97, he improved to a team-record 32 wins, and was awarded the Mike Bossy Trophy as the league's best professional prospect. After his performance at the 1997 CHL Top Prospects Game, opposing coach Don Cherry likened Luongo to Montreal Canadiens' Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, while NHL Central Scouting Bureau director Frank Bonello heralded him as a "franchise goaltender". At the 1997 NHL entry draft, Luongo was selected in the first round, fourth overall, by the New York Islanders. The pick originally belonged to the Toronto Maple Leafs but was traded to the Islanders in exchange for Wendel Clark, Mathieu Schneider and D. J. Smith. At the time of the draft, Luongo was the highest-picked goaltender in NHL history, surpassing Tom Barrasso, John Davidson, and Ray Martynuik's fifth overall selections in 1983, 1973, and 1970 (Luongo's selection was later surpassed by Rick DiPietro's first overall selection by the Islanders in 2000). Upon his draft, Luongo continued to play junior with the Foreurs in 1997–98. He recorded 27 wins and a 3.09 goals against average (GAA). His seven shutouts tied Nick Sanza's QMJHL record, set in 1974–75 (Adam Russo later tied it as well in 2002–03). Although the Islanders planned to have Luongo play in the NHL for the 1998–99 season, an inconsistent performance at training camp led to Luongo's return to the QMJHL that season. Owing to having failed to come to terms on a contract before October 1, 1998, Luongo was not allowed to be called up to the Islanders from junior over the course of the subsequent season. He started the season with Val-d'Or but was traded to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan during the 1999 World Junior Championships for the remainder of the 1998–99 season. He went on to lead the Titan to his second consecutive President's Cup championship with a 2.74 GAA in 23 games. He finished his QMJHL playoff career with the all-time league record in games played (56), minutes played (3,264:22), wins (38) and shots faced (1,808).
After his performance at the 1999 World Junior Championships, Luongo was signed by the Islanders to a three-year, $2.775 million contract on January 8, 1999. The following season, he made his professional debut with the Lowell Lock Monsters, the Islanders' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate. Early in the season, Luongo was called up to the Islanders on November 22, 1999, after a shoulder injury to back up Wade Flaherty. He made his NHL debut six days later on November 28, stopping 43 shots in a 2–1 win against the Boston Bruins. Luongo's early performances solidified him as the Islanders' starting goaltender over veteran Félix Potvin. Nearly a month after Luongo's debut in New York, Potvin was traded to the Vancouver Canucks on December 19 in exchange for backup goaltender Kevin Weekes. The next month, he recorded his first career NHL shutout in his eighth game, stopping 34 shots in a 3–0 victory over the Bruins on December 27. In January 2000, Luongo was publicly criticized by Islanders general manager Mike Milbury for having gone looking for an apartment in New York on a game day before letting in seven goals to the Boston Bruins. Milbury told the media, "You can't do that in the NHL. You have to prepare yourself." Luongo defended himself by saying he did not divert from his usual game day routine by looking at just one apartment. In the off-season, the Islanders selected goaltender Rick DiPietro with the first overall pick in the 2000 NHL entry draft. DiPietro's selection supplanted Luongo as the highest-drafted goaltender in NHL history and the Islanders' goaltender of the future. Consequently, Milbury traded Luongo to the Florida Panthers along with centre Olli Jokinen for winger Mark Parrish and centre Oleg Kvasha that same day on June 24, 2000. The deal would later be seen to have disproportionately benefited the Panthers, as both Jokinen and Luongo would eventually develop into star players, in contrast to Parrish and Kvasha. Later in his career, Luongo expressed surprise at the trade, saying that before the Islanders drafted DiPietro, he had believed the team was preparing to make him its starting goaltender for the upcoming season.
The Panthers' organization expressed high praise for Luongo following the trade. General manager Bryan Murray characterized him as "a franchise guy", while head coach Terry Murray added "He's the guy teams have to have to win the Stanley Cup." He entered his first training camp with the Panthers competing for the starting role with veteran goaltender Trevor Kidd; coach Terry Murray opted to begin the season with Kidd owing to his experience. Luongo made his first start with the Panthers on October 9, 2000, making 18 saves in a 4–2 loss to the Boston Bruins. When splitting the goaltending duties, Luongo went on to appear in 43 games, in comparison to Kidd's 42. He finished his 2000–01 rookie season (Luongo qualified as a rookie because he had not played in at least 26 games the previous season with New York) by notching a franchise record fifth shutout of the season in a 3–0 win against the New York Rangers on April 7, 2001. The total surpassed John Vanbiesbrouck's four-shutout mark, set in both the 1994–95 and 1997–98 seasons. He posted a 12–24–7 record with the struggling Panthers, who finished 12th in the Eastern Conference, while recording a 2.44 GAA. His .920 save percentage was sixth in the league and second all-time among rookie goaltenders, behind Manny Fernandez's mark set the previous season. Approaching his third NHL season, Luongo agreed on a four-year contract extension with the Panthers on September 13, 2001. He was chosen to play in the inaugural NHL YoungStars Game in 2002 for Team Melrose, winning 13–7 over Team Fox. After appearing in 58 games in 2001–02, Luongo suffered a torn ligament in his right ankle in a game against the Montreal Canadiens on March 20, 2002. Sidelined for the remainder of the season, he finished with a 16–33–4 record, a 2.77 GAA and .915 save percentage. Luongo returned in 2002–03 to a heavier workload, playing a 65-game season. He had a franchise record-setting shutout streak that lasted 144:51 minutes; it was snapped on January 20, 2003, against the Montreal Canadiens. In his fourth season with the Panthers (2003–04), Luongo emerged with his first Vezina Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award nominations as the top goaltender and top player as selected by the players, respectively. Playing in 72 games, he set NHL marks for most saves and shots faced in a single season with 2,303 and 2,475, respectively. Both marks were previously set by former Islanders teammate Félix Potvin in 1996–97 as a Toronto Maple Leaf. His resulting .931 save percentage was first among those goaltenders with at least 50 starts, and set a Panthers franchise record, breaking Vanbiesbrouck's .924 mark, set in 1993–94. His seven shutouts furthered his franchise record and was good enough for fifth in the league. At mid-season, he was named to his first NHL All-Star Game, held in February 2004. Competing for the Eastern Conference, he won the Goaltenders Competition segment of the SuperSkills Competition, allowing the fewest goals on goaltender-related events. The following day, he played in the third period of the All-Star Game and helped the East to a 6–4 win against the West. At the end of the season, he was named to the second NHL All-Star team, but lost the Vezina Trophy to fellow Montreal-native Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, while Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Pearson Award. Owing to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Luongo was inactive, with the exception of two international tournaments, the 2004 World Cup and the 2005 World Championships. With the NHL set to resume in 2005–06, Luongo was without a contract. After negotiations failed, the Panthers filed for arbitration on August 11, 2005. The process awarded Luongo a one-year, $3.2 million contract on August 25. On April 13, 2006, Luongo became the Florida Panthers’ all-time wins leader, passing Vanbiesbrouck, with his 107th win with the team – a 5–4 overtime victory against the Ottawa Senators. He went on to post 35 wins, breaking Vanbiesbrouck's 27-win single-season Panthers mark, set in 1996–97. Set to become a free agent for the second consecutive off-season, he could not come to an agreement with the Panthers, having formally turned down a five-year, $30 million contract offer in January 2006. It was also reported that among Luongo's demands were that backup goaltender Jamie McLennan be re-signed, his long-time goaltending coach François Allaire be hired and that a public statement be released that he would not be traded until the no-trade clause of his contract took effect.
Prior to the start of the 2006–07 season, Panthers general manager Mike Keenan traded Luongo to the Vancouver Canucks on June 23, 2006. He was packaged with defenceman Lukáš Krajíček and a sixth round draft pick (Sergei Shirokov) in exchange for forward Todd Bertuzzi, defenceman Bryan Allen and goaltender Alex Auld. Immediately following the deal, Vancouver signed Luongo to a four-year, $27 million deal. He expressed surprise, claiming that he and the Panthers were very close to a deal the day before the trade.
