Luongo hopes to stay with team

By Brian Biggane

 

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

 

Sunday, January 15, 2006

 

SUNRISE ? Roberto Luongo has yet to respond to the Panthers' latest contract offer, but his agent said Saturday that the goalie wants to stay in Florida and hopes to get a long-term deal done no later than June.

 

"Roberto wants to stay there and be honest with the organization," Gilles Lupien said. "He says that every time he talks to me. He wants to play there."

 

Lupien said he hasn't discussed the Panthers' five-year, $30 million offer with Luongo since receiving it by fax from Keenan on Wednesday night. He disputed a report in a South Florida paper that Luongo had rejected the offer.

 

"He didn't say no. Roberto doesn't want to work against the organization. I don't even want to hear about that," Lupien said. "There's a lot we have to look at ? look at the organization, the way everything is run."

 

After turning down a five-year, $25 million offer last summer, Luongo said he would be reluctant to sign a long-term deal until he had confidence that the team was headed in the right direction. More recently, he said he has been encouraged by the leadership of Keenan and coach Jacques Martin.

 

Lupien said the main reason he and Luongo would prefer to delay serious talks is to keep them from becoming a distraction during the season.

 

"We don't want to have things in the paper because everywhere he goes, (the media is) going to be after him. We want to wait until June; the organization knows that, the owner knows that."

 

Luongo, who was awarded $3.2 million for this season by an arbitrator, cannot become an unrestricted free agent until July 2007.

 

Jokinen hopes to get deal done: The agent for Olli Jokinen, who unlike Luongo could become an unrestricted free agent this summer, said from Brazil that he has been in contact with General Manager Mike Keenan and expects contract talks to begin when he returns this week.

 

Jokinen reiterated his previous stance that he has no intention to go elsewhere, also saying that he has been pleased by the team's newfound stability at the top.

 

"We have our GM under a long-term deal, our coach under a long-term deal, and the organization is going the right way," he said. "I've been saying since the first day of camp I want to be part of that."

 

Jokinen said he hopes to have a deal done by next month's Olympic break and, failing that, by the March 9 trade deadline.

 

Noteworthy: Panthers announcer Denis Potvin, mentioned as a possible successor to Mike Milbury as general manager of the New York Islanders, said he's not interested in working for his former team.... Defenseman Lukas Krajicek returned to the lineup after missing one game with a sore knee.... Rostislav Olesz said his separated shoulder was feeling "much better," and he could return this week.

 

 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/panthers/cont...hnote_0115.html

 

What does this all mean? Not much of anything. Luongo's future with the Panthers will be decided in the offseason.

Strange.

 

That article totally contradicted previous reports that Robert turned down the Panthers' offer and said he is going to wait until the offseason before making a decision because he wants to see if the Panthers will commit to being long time contenders or not.

It means Luongo watched the team get a franchise player in Pavel Bure and fail to surround him with the right pieces to get over the hump. I think in this cap era, Luongo doesn't want to sit there eating 1/6 (or whatever the figure is) of the total cap on a team that is both flawed and poorly run (Keenan's moves have really shown an inability to take advantage of the new rules).

 

I can't say that I blame Luongo for wanting out, I just hope that something can be done to retain him, because there really isn't any way for the Panthers to get equal value for him.

We actually ruined the team by surrounding Pavel with players he wanted. (See Valeri Bure for one.) I am tired of hearing that overused argument. We should've traded Pavel sooner as he was sucking the life out of this team.

We actually ruined the team by surrounding Pavel with players he wanted. (See Valeri Bure for one.) I am tired of hearing that overused argument. We should've traded Pavel sooner as he was sucking the life out of this team.

 

 

I'm not going to deny that in hindsight getting Valeri for Niedermeyer was a poor trade (however, the first Val trade did bring in Van Ryn, so it did pay dividends), but other than getting Valeri and signing Larionov the Panthers really didn't surround Pavel with a bunch of his players.

 

The best center he ever worked with was Mike Sillinger, and there wasn't really a legit #2 on the team, ever. Bure single-handedly carried the Cats to the one and done playoff appearance against the Devils, I don't really want to blame him for all that's wrong, or has been wrong with the team.

 

Not so much to call you out, but rather to start a constructive conversation, what did you find so egregious during Bure's tenure (at least pertaining to F.O. moves) that hasn't been done by any other team in the NHL or elsewhere?

We actually ruined the team by surrounding Pavel with players he wanted. (See Valeri Bure for one.) I am tired of hearing that overused argument. We should've traded Pavel sooner as he was sucking the life out of this team.

 

 

I'm not going to deny that in hindsight getting Valeri for Niedermeyer was a poor trade (however, the first Val trade did bring in Van Ryn, so it did pay dividends), but other than getting Valeri and signing Larionov the Panthers really didn't surround Pavel with a bunch of his players.

 

The best center he ever worked with was Mike Sillinger, and there wasn't really a legit #2 on the team, ever. Bure single-handedly carried the Cats to the one and done playoff appearance against the Devils, I don't really want to blame him for all that's wrong, or has been wrong with the team.

 

Not so much to call you out, but rather to start a constructive conversation, what did you find so egregious during Bure's tenure (at least pertaining to F.O. moves) that hasn't been done by any other team in the NHL or elsewhere? For one thing, we did not draft well during the Bure years. Just a reflection on the front office. Secondly while Mike Sillinger was the only real center, you forget that the 1999 team had some very gifted players. Ray Whitney and Viktor Kozlov both had great years.

 

Mark Parrish was also on that team. As was Mellenby, Svehla, Spacek, and Hedican. There was plenty of good players on that team and the scoring was spread out.

 

And then the next two years were lost because we attempted to bring in Pavel players. That Bure/Wiemer trade really killed the team. And the 01-02 was the most forgettable season ever. Pavel didnt even play like Pavel.

 

 

At least Pavel brought some excitement back to the Panthers. I will always remember watching him play. He is possibly the most gifted player the Panthers have ever had.

Well said. :thumbup

 

And, again, I think the history of ineptitude all while Luongo has been here contributes greatly to his reluctance to remain. Keenan simply has not shown with the Panthers that he knows how to build a winner on a budget, or a team to take advantage of the new rules.

you know I havent met a panther fan yet that liked Keenan as the GM