Score one for Panthers with Luongo deal

 

By Greg Stoda

 

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

 

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

 

The knee-jerk reaction is to suggest the Florida Panthers are a bunch of knucklehead dummies ? all the way from owner Alan Cohen and General Manager Mike Keenan to coach Jacques Martin ? for trading goaltender extraordinaire Roberto Luongo.

 

Not going there.

 

Not this time.

 

Hey, a guy can get more than a little shaken being wrong as often the knucklehead dummy who writes in this space has been in recent months. Which probably means my previous opinion on The Luongo Affair, delivered in early April, is going to turn out to be as wrong as my guesswork on a couple of other South Florida items (see: Heat and Marlins).

 

The Heat? My thought was the trade two years ago for Shaquille O'Neal wouldn't be worthwhile unless Miami won a title with him. Done. Oh, and your faithful correspondent picked the Heat to lose to New Jersey, Detroit and Dallas as it made its way to that championship. Very nice.

 

The Marlins? My thought was the gutting of the team would lead to a franchise-record number of losses this season. That would require 109 defeats, but Florida instead is playing at a pace that would bring something in the neighborhood of 90 losses and garner Joe Girardi votes as the National League's best manager. Again, very nice.

 

Luongo? Well, here, reread for yourself: All he means to the Florida Panthers is everything. Because if Roberto Luongo doesn't remain their goaltender for lots and lots of NHL seasons, then the Panthers aren't ever going to mean much of anything. It's that simple. Luongo is that important.... What the Panthers need is an identity, and Luongo has to be it.... Luongo is the foundation of it all.

 

Which seems pretty clear, doesn't it?

 

Which probably also means the Panthers did the right thing in getting rid of him.

 

In retrospect, too, it certainly appears the franchise did its best to accommodate Luongo's many demands ? he wanted this player and that coach and this contract length and that money ? only to be asked to do more. And more. And more. In the end, a four-year, $25 million offer wasn't enough to satisfy Luongo, who talked a bunch about wanting to remain a Panther, but didn't really act that way.

 

Is it possible Keenan, who isn't known for having a deep well of patience, got finally and exasperatedly fed up with Team Luongo's antics and sealed the trade with Vancouver when he could have made a last attempt to bring about a signing? Sure.

 

But maybe Keenan had grown to distrust Luongo as much as Luongo obviously distrusted him, which would have made for a shaky alliance had an agreement been reached.

 

So, the Panthers risked giving up one of the NHL's best goalies and a couple of throw-ins for what they believe will be two players who markedly improve them in other areas, plus ? here's the element likely the key to long-term evaluation of the trade ? a goaltender.

 

The big name (for all the wrong reasons) coming to South Florida is wing Todd Bertuzzi, whose horrific reputation is miserably well-earned as a result of a brutal on-ice attack two years ago. Florida, though, is more interested in Bertuzzi's ability to put the puck in the net (a career-best 46 times in one season) and accumulate points (71, with 25 goals last season).

 

The Panthers also got a big defenseman in 6-foot-4, 220-pound Bryan Allen, who ought to fortify an area of concern. There's a reason, after all, Luongo faced such a punishing workload night after night as Florida's last bastion of defense.

 

But it's goaltender Alex Auld, two years younger than Luongo, who'll come under closest scrutiny. He and Luongo had similar statistics last season ? a.914 save percentage and 2.97 goals-against average for Luongo to.902 and 2.94 for Auld ? with the caveat that the Panthers weren't otherwise as good as the Canucks defensively.

 

It's hardly fair to hang Florida's long absence from the playoffs on Luongo, because he was the guy who made the Panthers a threat to win every night. But neither was there any meaningful team accomplishment during Luongo's tenure, even though it was grand entertainment watching him all but stand on his head while making three or four dozen saves in 2-1 or 3-2 losses.

 

The old way wasn't working.

 

That's why Florida went looking for a stouter offense (it has ranked 29th, 23rd and 21st in goals the past three seasons) and a more physical defense (Vancouver's Ed Jovanovski or Edmonton's Chris Pronger might yet land with the Panthers).

 

There's no championship in the offing with these changes ? nor was there with Luongo ? but Florida's strategy for improvement might work if the decline in goaltending isn't precipitous.

 

And the Panthers do have my previously stated opinion on the Luongo issue working for them.

 

Listen for Greg Stoda's commentary on ESPN Radio 760.

 

A greg_stoda@pbpost.com

 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/panthers/cont...stoda_0627.html

Besides Dave Hyde's stupid stupid article a few days ago, most have been centered around this that Luongo was trying to play GM of the team and the Panthers needed to draw a line.

 

 

I am going to post this on the Cats blog now, thanks!

most important line in that article was "the old way wasn't working"...nice to see that some media outlets can admit their idiocy about the marlins and heat percieved shortcomings

*ahem*TSwift*ahem*

*ahem*TSwift*ahem*

I think he is waiting for Auld's first bad game of the year to talk about this trade again. :mischief