On Roberto Luongo’s Vancouver return, insane consistency and Vezina candidacy

Photo Credit: Segei Belski/USA TODAY Sports

It’s a shame that Roberto Luongo has never won the Vezina Trophy. In the realm of overdue accolades it’s not quite on the level of ‘Leonardo Dicaprio has never won an Oscar’, but it isn’t too far off.

Voted on by NHL general managers, the Vezina is awarded annually to the goaltender “adjudged to be the best at this position”. Luongo is a three-time finalist, but he has never taken home the hardware (he definitely should’ve won in 2004).

As the 2015-2016 campaign passes the halfway point this week, it’s beginning to look like this could be Luongo’s ‘The Revenant’ season even though Washington’s Braden Holtby is a strong candidate in his own right, probably even the pack favourite.

On Monday night, Luongo will face a Vancouver Canucks club that still pays roughly 15 percent of his salary at Rogers Arena. And he’ll enter Monday’s somewhat-more-meaningful-than-usual regular season contest on an insane roll.

Stopping pucks for an upstart Panthers side that has managed to win 12 consecutive games, Luongo is having something of a late career year at the tender age of 36.

Among NHL goaltenders that have started at least 30 games, Luongo ranks second by even-strength save percentage and second by overall save percentage. He’s currently fourth among everyday starters by war-on-ice.com’s ‘high-danger save percentage’ metric.

Anyway you slice it, Luongo looks to be a strong Vezina candidate at the mid-way point. Not that his candidacy is getting as much attention as it should be, what with the Atlantic division-leading Panthers currently nursing a stunning 12-game win streak.

“It’s fun coming to the rink everyday,” Luongo told reporters on Monday of the win streak. “Just want to keep it going, keep it quiet, not too loud and just go about our business.”

Luongo’s Panthers will be playing their second of back-to-back games on Monday night, and Luongo doesn’t generally talk to media on game days. The veteran netminder was a star for an awfully long time in Vancouver though, so he made an exception.

That high level of professionalism was evident throughout Luongo’s 10-minute media scrum on Monday afternoon. He lavished teammates like Al Montoya and Jaromir Jagr with praise and deflected any questions about his individual play, opting to focus instead on the play of his teammates.

“I don’t think I’ve ever won nine in a row so that’s nice,” Luongo said when asked if he’s ever been on a run quite like this one. “I’ve been on some streaks before, but at the same time everyone is doing their job so it makes it easier to play well and contribute.”

During a nearly 10-minute availability, Luongo admitted that he’s hopeful that the Panthers might be a serious contender. That this team might give him another shot at winning hockey’s ultimate prize, which, last I checked, isn’t the Vezina trophy.

“I didn’t go (to Florida) to just retire,” Luongo said. “I went there to turn the corner of the franchise and get them back in the playoffs and make a run.

“I want to have at least one more crack at it, if not more. That’s why we play the game, because we want to win. We don’t go there to enjoy the sun.”

Even though Luongo’s play has been stunning through the first half, it’s likely that his individual save percentage will regress somewhat. 

Even for the best and most consistent netminders, puck-stopping effectiveness at the NHL level can be a fickle beast. Luongo’s .931 save percentage currently sits far higher than his .920 career average and it’s unlikely that he, or any goalie for that matter, will sustain an even-strength save percentage north of .940 over the course of 60-plus starts.

Luckily Luongo’s experience, and particularly his experience navigating a vipers den like the Vancouver hockey market, have helped him develop a Teflon sheen.

“I’ve learned to mange (the highs and lows) better over the years than in the past,” Luongo said. “The key is to always remain at an even level and realize that what makes us successful is the work.”

What’s really the most remarkable thing about Luongo’s stunning NHL career though, is that the lows – as well publicized and documented as they’ve been in this space – have actually been few and far between.

Sure Luongo gave an emotional press conference on Trade Deadline day in 2013, and, yes, he lost his starters job twice in a three-year span in Vancouver. Through it all though, he’s remained the most reliable puck-stopper of his generation.

Luongo has been a workhorse starter in nearly every season he’s played. Goaltending performance is variable from year-to-year, which makes it especially remarkable that Luongo has never posted a below average save percentage in a single season in which he’s played more than 50 games. Even in an era of inflated save percentage, that’s insane.

Good NHL starters occasionally put together seasons in which they’re good enough to drag a lacklustre team to the playoffs. Luongo has basically been at that level of elite performance every season for 15 years.

And he’s still working on his game, and still fighting through injury – he even played through a shoulder fracture at the tail end of last season – to ensure that he’s the goaltender who makes the Lion’s share of his team’s starts. With the Panthers, it evens seems that he’s found a new level of effectiveness.

“I’ve been working on my game a lot as I always did, things I started working on, unfortunately in my last year or two in Vancouver, heading back to Florida that I’ve gotten much better at,” Luongo said Monday. “I just feel more comfortable in the way I’m playing the game.

“When you’re confident in what you’re doing out there, everything else tends to follow suit.”

Wins, streaks and team success have certainly followed suit for Luongo this season and he’ll take those things over individual accolades.

It’s high time for Luongo’s longstanding individual brilliance to be recognized though. And if he keeps playing like this, it may well be.