Archive for the 'Roberto Luongo' Category

The new NHL ad

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 13, 2007
in Alexander Ovechkin, Dion Phaneuf, Eric Staal, Joe Thornton, Jordan Staal, Links, Martin Havlat, Marty Turco, Phil Kessel, Roberto Luongo, Sheldon Souray, Sidney Crosby and Video
. 0 Comments

Update (4:05 PM): The Globe and Mail’s Allan Maki has more on the NHL’s current marketing campaign, including the interesting bit that Brendan Shanahan had a hand in its creation. Shanny is really getting involved in everything these days, isn’t he? Maybe Maki’s suggestion at the end of the article won’t seem so far-fetched in 10 years. - Matt

This is great:

Pretty funny, eh? Nice to see the NHL continue to make great commercials (the last batch, with the Ovechkin/Leonsis spot, in particular, was great too). (via Kukla’s and Japer’s Rink.)

Khan: Wings prepared offer sheet for Luongo

Published
by
Matt Saler
on July 16, 2006
in Hockey Media, Links and Roberto Luongo
. 1 Comment

Ansar rehashes a Boston Globe story that reported the Wings had written up an $8.2 million Group II offer sheet for Roberto Luongo. Of course, being a major newspaper, the Globe doesn’t name their sources. However, Khan has an idea of who the source could have been: “Have the Bruins hired anyone from the Wings’ organization lately?” Yes, they have: Dave Lewis.

Link

6/24 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 24, 2006
in Chris Pronger, Draft, Nick Lidstrom, Notes and Roberto Luongo
. 1 Comment

… James Mirtle addresses the surprising news out of Edmonton involving Chris Pronger’s trade request. Apparently, “family issues” meant “my rich wife from St. Louis hates Northern Alberta.” Although Pronger did request a trade earlier in the season due to his wife, he obviously didn’t make a big stink about it and was honorable enough to play through the season, becoming the Oilers’ most dominant player through their playoff run.

As Mirtle says, Pronger’s stock is incredibly high now so Kevin Lowe will be able to get a lot in return if a trade does in fact happen. Of course, that fact just makes Brian’s rumor that much more unlikely but it’s still a nice dream, eh?

… Ansar Khan reports that there has been progress made in contract negotiations with Nick Lidstrom. He quotes Ken Holland as saying,

“We had good conversations. We’ve gone back and forth the last couple of weeks with different ideas and numbers. I’m trying to convince Nick on a number, he’s trying to convince me on a number. We’re trying to find a compromise. I’d like to get something done (next) week.”

It sure would be nice to know just how far apart they are (i.e. $8.8 million versus $8 million or $8.8 million versus $7 million, etc.).

No talks will take place this weekend but they will pick up again on Monday.

Khan also reports that Holland doesn’t have a lot happening on the trade front, which isn’t all that encouraging. Perhaps that’ll change today after all the GMs get together for the draft.

… IwoCPO has a further reaction to last night’s big Luongo trade, posted from the Richmond airport today:

Yes, it would have been a move that re-kindled the excitement in Detroit. Yes, it seems that if it were to occur Pavel Datsyuk, at least, would have been sent to Florida in return. Yes, Luongo was the best goalie available, is going to be a great playoff performer and is a franchise player.And if goaltending was the only problem the Wings had against Edmonton, the deal may have been made. But, in the heat of the discussion over whether Holland should have mortgaged the offensive talent pool in favor of Luongo let’s recall a few happy moments. Remember Ryan (Jason, Smith, Smyth) with continued access to the crease, untouched. …

Basically, the Wings need grit, speed, and heart more than they need a big-name goalie. The equation “Luongo=the Wings’ savior” was always a false one (Luongo≠the Wings’ savior). Holland needs to focus on acquiring players that bring those qualities to the team and on losing players that don’t.

Be sure to check out Iwo’s classic timeline of his experience at the airport here.

… Of course, the draft is tonight and, as I posted yesterday, we’ll have whatever information we can find on the Wings’ two picks (29th and 62nd) in today’s rounds (1st and 2nd). Be sure to stop by James Mirtle’s liveblog of the event and checking Kukla’s Korner for updates is always a good idea. Hockey’s Future and Red Wings Central are also good resources for information on draftees (they’re basically where we’ll be going for it).

I should have thought of this earlier, but Hockey’s Future has a Red Wings draft preview here. Their section on draft tendencies is very interesting, noting,

New CBA rules, however, put heavy transfer fees on European players chosen after the second round and force NHL teams to sign European draft picks with two years of their draft date. Consequently, look for the Red Wings to reprioritize the draft and lessen their emphasis on European talent.

I had missed that little fact. It will be interesting to see the impact that will have on the Wings in the future. Their reliance on European talent was made necessary by their success over the years. It has to be easier to find overlooked and unknown players at the isolated rinks of Russia and Sweden than in the well-publicized arenas of the North American systems.

Update (2:58 PM): Christy also will be updating throughout the draft.

Update (4:10 PM): Looks like Luongo was caught off-guard by the trade, since, apparently, he thought he and Florida had a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. I guess that means there was no pre-negotiated long-term deal that the Canucks can count on simply because Luongo was not involved in the trade negotiations. For now, apparently, Luongo is too emotional to think about signing a long-term contract with Vancouver so Nonis will have to wait.

Update (6:50 PM): BoA has a reaction to the news about Pronger here. Definitely sucks for those fans.

More on Luongo, and Big News with Pronger and Brind’Amour

Published
by
Brian List
on June 23, 2006
in Chris Pronger, Roberto Luongo and Rod Brind'Amour
. 6 Comments

On the eve of the NHL draft, the Vancouver Canucks have traded Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen and Alexander Auld to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Roberto Luongo and Lukas Krajicek. Rumors of Vancouver moving Bertuzzi for Luongo had been circulating this week, but it comes as a surprise that they also gave up Bryan Allen and Auld. This was a tough offer for the Wings to beat, the approximate equivalent of a Datsyuk, Osgood, Lebda trade.

I would not have liked that if Holland had gone that far. Both Bertuzzi and Luongo will be UFA’s next summer, so I’d have a hard time giving as much up as the Canucks did. Jes Golbez agrees with me. Also, check out the Vancouver Canucks Op Ed reaction here and Mirtle’s reaction here. And if there was a Florida Panthers blog I could link to, and this non-existent blog had a reaction, it would be linked here. Someone start a Panthers blog or drop a link, eh?

The one thing I like about the deal is that Bryan Allen is going to be in the Eastern Conference. If you remember, he was the player who broke Zetterberg’s leg with a dirty slash and caused Derian Hatcher’s torn ACL off incidental contact. Good riddance, you punk. Bertuzzi being in the Eastern Conference is also great.

If I was a Colorado Avalanche fan, I would be very worried with Luongo joining the Northwest Division. But the Wings only face the Canucks four times during the regular season, so it isn’t as big of an issue for us, until the playoffs at least. It looks like the Wings will have to go after Giguere now, as A2Y says.

A shocking report out of Edmonton. Chris Pronger has asked the Oilers for a trade, after he helped lead them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The reasons are based on “personal, family considerations.” Granted, some are saying Al Strachan has a hand in this rumor, so take it with a grain of salt. Oilers GM Kevin Lowe reacts:

“I think they’re more rumblings than anything. I’m pretty focused on the draft right now I don’t want to get too much into player personnel stuff.”

On whether Pronger has said anything to him:

“He hasn’t asked me. I’ll just leave it at that…We just got over a seven-game series in the Stanley Cup finals and there seems to be a lot of discussion about this and I’m not sure where it’s coming from. Let’s put it this way. Why would we want to trade Chris Pronger? One thing I’ve learned in my five or six years as a manager is that stuff tends to out of right field for whatever reasons. It can be agendas, hidden agendas, certain motivations, so nothing surprises me.”

You’ve heard it first, here. I’m going to start a rumor and say Chris Pronger will become a Red Wing and his $6.25 million salary will be offset when Nick Lidstrom signs for $1 million in reaction, Paul Kariya style! It’s a great dream, anyways.

Oh, I’d also like to mention that the Canes signed Rod Brind’Amour to a five year deal. It’s a bit surprising to me to see them lock Brind’Amour, 36 in August, up for such a lengthy deal. He is the captain and all, but I would’ve signed him for three years max if I was the Canes GM.

Update (24. Jun, 12:01 AM, Matt): In spite of this trade, Ansar Khan still won’t let go of the idea of Luongo in the Winged Wheel, posting the following to his blog tonight:

Well, is it too soon to start writing about how the Red Wings need to sign Roberto Luongo as a free agent in 2007?

Ansar, the Canucks are going to sign him in the next couple days. Okay? I’m sorry.

Khan wraps up the post with comments on possible Plan B’s such as Biron, Raycroft, Giguere, Aebischer, Gerber, Roloson, etc, etc. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see which one of them, if any, it’ll be. – Matt

Luongo to Vancouver for Bertuzzi, Allen and Auld

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 23, 2006
in Canucks, Links, Roberto Luongo and Todd Bertuzzi
. 0 Comments

Well, there goes that rumor. More to come.

Link

Manny Legace Finishes Fifth in Vezina Voting; Luongo Seventh

Published
by
Brian List
on June 23, 2006
in Links, Manny Legace, Roberto Luongo and Vezina
. 0 Comments

Something the Red Wings can use to leverage Luongo’s potential contract closer to the $5 million mark. Just acquiring him will be hard to do with all the talk of Bertuzzi or Pronger for Luongo, though.

Link

Khan: Strange reaction from Luongo

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 22, 2006
in Links and Roberto Luongo
. 2 Comments

The Luongo saga continues. I’d comment more but my Dad’s in the hospital and I’m only taking a few minutes away from the whirlwind.

Links

More on Roberto Luongo

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 19, 2006
in Hockey Bloggers, Opinion and Roberto Luongo
. 17 Comments

James Mirtle disagrees that the Wings would be risking losing Luongo after just one year:

For one, there’s no way any team trading for Luongo is going to do so with the notion that they’ll only have him for one season. A pre-negotiated long-term deal will likely accompany any deal simply for the fact that it will give Keenan something he doesn’t have at the moment: leverage.

The scenario James lays out in the rest of the post is much more soberly thought out than my initial reaction to the idea, which he quotes.

Still, it’s hard to decide which is worse: throwing $7 million a year and a couple of our best young stars at an overrated, only semi-proven goalie but having him locked up for, say, five years for better or for worse. Or making a similar trade at Luongo’s current salary and losing him after a year.

Maybe Luongo is exactly what the Wings need. Maybe he’ll be a force for this team for the rest of his career. Maybe he’ll carry them to three Cups and re-establish their dominance. Or maybe he’ll totally bomb after he finds that on a skilled team, the goalie doesn’t have to make 57 saves a night and he isn’t expected to win every game for them singlehandedly.

The list of alternatives isn’t overly impressive, as James points out. Luongo is certainly the biggest name out there. But this isn’t Dominik Hasek in the summer of 2001 (just to mention the last big goalie trade-to-sign deal the Wings made). Dom had proven he could take a team, any team, to the Finals. Furthermore, he wanted to play in Detroit. All Luongo wants is to get out of Florida and get some team to pay him a ton of money before he’s done anything.

I don’t want to see the Wings stuck with a flop of a goalie that happens to have an enormous salary. I think there’s a reason Detroit goalies are always derided by the fans: we generally don’t have the best and when we do, they often don’t perform up to expectations. Think Curtis Joseph. The only exception I can remember is Dominik Hasek, who was a pretty exceptional goalie, in that first year. Even without the best goalie available, the Wings won two Cups. Their historical strength has not been goaltending, it has been skilled skaters backed by strong goalies (just not the “best”).

A bigger-name goalie is not the solution to the playoff problem. In fact, generally, the goalie seems to be one of the best players in most of the early exits I can remember. Their problem has always been lack of scoring and I think it’s unfair to pin the blame on the goalies by asserting the solution is a better goalie.

As far as I’m concerned, the Wings only need a one- or two-year veteran goalie who will help usher in the goalies they already have in their system. Such a goalie will not come at such a high price and would allow Holland to make other moves that would shore up the offense and defense with more grit and speed, which is what the team desparately needs.

Khan: Wings need to acquire Luongo

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 18, 2006
in Hockey Media and Roberto Luongo
. 3 Comments

Update (12:50 PM): IwoCPO likes Khan’s reasoning as well as the idea of Roberto Luongo in the Winged Wheel. Maybe I’d be okay with the idea too, were it not for the reasons listed below. - Matt

Ansar Khan believes acquiring the League’s most overrated goalie will be the blockbuster/inspirational move the team needs to restore everyone’s confidence. Khan sees the need for Holland to do what he did in the summer of 2001 (which just happened to be one of the best free-agent/trade markets ever), when he acquired Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille and “shocked the hockey world.”

The difference between those deals and anything that would happen with Luongo this summer was that they hardly cost the Wings anything in terms of personnel. Slava Kozlov was a contributor but Hasek had established himself as one of the game’s best, from the regular season all the way to the Finals, unlike Luongo, who hasn’t carried his team anywhere like Dom did. That was a worthwhile trade and was so lopsided in the Wings’ favor as to be grossly unfair for Buffalo, who had to do it because Hasek demanded it.

The only way to get Luongo is to trade away someone significant. Sounds like a great idea, Ansar. Trade Pavel Datsyuk for Roberto Luongo and then lose him on the free agent market after next season. To me, that’s the most likely scenario. Khan says the Wings have nothing to lose by such a deal but if Luongo isn’t signed to a long-term deal, it absolutely will not be worth it to trade away players like Pavel Datsyuk, Jimmy Howard or any other player the Wings’ have pegged their future on. They have a lot to lose and would be hinging their hopes on a prima donna goalie who has never been in the postseason. Ever.

Haven’t we dealt enough with goalies that have no playoff experience? I want someone who’s been there, done that, not some postseason virgin, regardless of his name.

Ansar Khan: Luongo a possibility for Detroit

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 9, 2006
in Hockey Media and Roberto Luongo
. 3 Comments

Khan suggests Luongo could come to Detroit via a trade involving, not Pavel Datsyuk, but Jimmy Howard. Possible bumps in the road include Mike Keenan, Florida’s GM, and future salary demands on Luongo’s part ($7 million or so). The fact that Nick Lidstrom is likely to get the league maximum is another point against this happening. I’m all for getting a veteran goalie but not at the cost of the team’s future (ie. Datsyuk or Howard). Luongo isn’t the guy for Detroit.