Luongo great fit for talented young team
Goalie and other veteran players provide what the club needs to develop a winning culture
SUNRISE, Fla. — When Roberto Luongo began trying to angle his way back to Florida in 2012 it was for off-ice, lifestyle reasons.
On the ice? He couldn’t have had a clue what he was getting himself into.
Then, the Panthers were a patchwork collection of veterans keeping afloat an organization that was hoping its promising prospects would not only pan out, but pan out quickly.
When Luongo was finally traded here last season, he helped the Panthers close out a nightmare season, which they ended with the secondworst record in the NHL.
Nine months later, Luongo finds himself in the rather invigorating position of being the veteran leader on a up-and-coming team that has one of the best collections of young talent in the NHL.
“He definitely makes the team feel better about itself,” head coach Gerard Gallant said Monday.
“It’s huge to (have him). Huge. We talk about it all the time. Every team in the league needs a goaltender like him.
“Lui gives us a chance. The guys are confident, because they know if they make a mistake, it’s not going to end up in the back of our net every time.
“He helps our team’s confidence, big time.”
Author and longtime hockey analyst Al Strachan, a Maritimer who lives here during hockey season, didn’t compare the Panthers’ young skill to the pre-dynasty Edmonton Oilers. But he did say there are things he sees that are reminiscent.
“On those early Oilers teams you could see the talent, but they were still trying to figure things out in the NHL,” Strachan said. “That’s a lot like this group. The skill is there. The talent is there. They just need to learn how to play with it.”
Of course, winning last year’s draft lottery and selecting Aaron Ekblad with the first overall pick has not only helped, it has given them the type of player that teams such as the Oilers have been trying to acquire for a decade.
By the way, and you’ll find this rich, the Oilers would have been in the Panthers’ lottery slot with the second-worst record, but they beat the Canucks 5-2 in the last game of the 2013-14 season, finishing with one point more than Florida did.
It’s got to hurt, because Ekblad is a game-changer and he’s doing historic things this season. He remains on pace to best Bobby Orr’s 41 points in 1966-67, which would make him the second-highest-scoring blueliner at 18 years old in NHL history. (The Buffalo Sabres’ Phil Housley was 18 for almost the entire 198283 season, when he scored 66 points as a rookie.)
When he was drafted in June, Ekblad joined an organization already loaded with promise.
A future core of Nick Bjugstad, Aleksander Barkov, Ekblad, Erik Gudbranson and Johnathan Huberdeau looks as if it could be pretty great in the next three or four years.
Not a bad spot for Luongo, the grizzled vet who is trying to teach these guys how to win, and in the process change the Panthers’ culture of losing.
It takes him back, because he had a similar role coming to Vancouver and joining a pretty weak team that had missed the playoffs in the 200506 season, a result that initiated an overhaul.
“I try to set an example,” Luongo said. “Both on the ice and off the ice.
“There are four or five of us here who have been around a lot. It’s important to teach these guys what it takes and how to be on a daily basis.
“We want to build a winner here and we want to speed up the process as quickly as possible.
“We know we’re a good team now.
“Not accepting losing is a huge part of that. Some of the culture in the past was part of that.
“The veterans have made it clear. It won’t be acceptable to just be happy to lose if we play well.”