Roberto Luongo's 12-year, $64 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks is one of the biggest for a goaltender in recent memory. Luongo, the only goalie to be the captain of his team (though unofficially, technically), missed much of last season with injury but should be key to Vancouver's chances next year, as well as Canada's Olympic hopes.
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James Mirtle at From The Rink likes the deal, citing Luongo’s consistency (a rare commodity for NHL goalies these days)
My friends and family members back home in B.C. (almost all Canucks fans) bellyache once in a while about Luongo’s play, but the fact is he’s been one of the most consistent netminders in the NHL the past decade (I always send them this link), and on a franchise that’s had as many issues in the crease as Vancouver, there are some decent reasons for inking him to this deal.
Outside of the disastrous 15-year deal signed by Rick diPietro with the Islanders, contracts of this length for a goalie are pretty unheard of. It will be interesting to see how this precedent will impact the rest of the market through the rest of the off-season, and if it might start a wave of behemoth contracts as other franchise goaltenders (Henrik Lundqvist, Marc-Andre Fleury, Cam Ward) look to lock themselves into deals to ride out the rest of their careers.
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