Roberto Luongo retires as the most under appreciated goaltender ever

Roberto Luongo has announced his retirement after 19 NHL seasons, and his resume is sure to be under appreciated.

Things seemed to be moving that way, with a lingering hip issue and now past his 40th birthday. But Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo officially announced his retirement after 19 NHL seasons on Wednesday.

Luongo will finish his career with a 489 regular season wins (third all-time) and 77 shutouts (ninth all-time) over 1,044 games (second-most by a goaltender). He’s also second all-time in saves (28,409) and 10th all-time in save percentage (.919).

Luong has three years left on his contract. So his retirement will carry some salary cap consequences for the Panthers and the Vancouver Canucks, who signed him to a 12-year, $64 million deal back in 2009. Frank Seravalli of TSN has reported the Canucks will face a cap recapture penalty of $3.03 million in each of the next three years, while the Panthers will face a $1.09 million penalty over the same span.

Drafted by the New York Islanders with the fourth overall pick in the 1997 draft before being traded to the Panthers and the Canucks and then back to the Panthers, Luongo never won a Stanley Cup or even a Vezina Trophy.

He led the league in wins in 2011 with 38, along with a .928 save percentage and a 2.11 goals against average as he won the Jennings Trophy as the goaltender on the team that allowed the fewest goals in the league. The Canucks also reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2011. But Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins, the opposing goaltender in that Stanley Cup Final, was simply phenomenal right through the playoffs that year.

Luongo was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy two other times, finishing third in 2004 and second in 2007.

Luongo went into the details of his decision via an open letter to his fans. Listening to his body, he knew it was time to retire.

"As May rolled around, I was looking at the calendar and I found myself dreading getting back into my routine. My offseason workouts always start in the third week of May and I wasn’t looking forward to getting back in the gym. There’s a lot of work and effort required and I found my body telling me that it didn’t want to go through it."

Some may dismiss Luongo as a numbers compiler. But playing 19 seasons, and most of them as his team’s No. 1 goaltender, naturally allowed him to stock pile notable numbers.

Luongo won two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada (2010 and 2014), along with two golds at the World Championships (2003 and 2004) and another gold at the World Cup of Hockey in 2004.

https://twitter.com/strombone1/status/1143942124444033025

One of the most accomplished at his position in NHL history, if under appreciated as such, Luongo showed with his retirement announcement he’s absolutely the unquestioned GOAT among goaltenders on Twitter.