Luongo to go into Ring of Honour

[Win2024]

12 hours ago, Master Mind said:

Best Canucks goaltender of all time.

 

How can you say that when Bob Essensa played here?

[Win2024]

I disagree with some Canucks fans who say Luongo never wanted to play in Vancouver. He signed that contract thinking he'd retire here. I've never blamed him for anything that happened as he thought it was going to be Schneider's team and had mentally moved on; then Gillis trades Schneider instead and we all know this already ladee da. Then Tortorella benches him for Eddie Lack (lol). Organization probably left him bitter and he deserved better from management and coaches. And I don't blame him fpr wanting to go back to Florida as his wife is from there and he had prior roots there. Maybe he could have done the organization a favor by opening up to more teams, but maybe he would only leave vancouver for Florida and anything else was seen as a downgrade, idk.   Just my take. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Win2024

[IBatch]

If Luongo's up there, one could argue  Kesler should be too.  Both said and did things near the end of their time with us which should keep their numbers from retirement.   Solid no from me about going to the rafters.   Burrows went to the ROH right away, to me that meant Bieksa should have as well.     Wouldn't have a problem with all those guys eventually going there.    The club was right to limit the Sedins number from that period, retired.    McLean played longer, and his peak was every bit as good as Luongo's', and his run to the final was better.     Luongo of course was amazing.   Was absolutely stoked when we got him.   We'd lacked elite goaltending for a long time by then, and that included McLeans mediocre final couple seasons with us.

 

Back to Kesler.   Watching him play the way he did, work his way up the roster, and become arguably the best second line center in the league for 5 or so years for us was something.   2010 he was all-world.   Almost single handedly willed the US to a gold medal.    Was the best forward both sides, that gold medal game.   Know he said some things, our fanbase can sure cancel people fast and forget all the good times fast too.    Was a much deserved Selke finalist, runner up then winner 3 years in a row for us, also 8th in Hart, rightly so in 2011.    Played a decade as a Canuck.   

 

Stayed away from the Kesler bashing.   Because, well we'd have to go all the way back to Ronning (another guy who for sure would be up there if he played a few more seasons..and i'd consider anyways given his Vancouver roots), to find a second line center as good as him.   Kesler could have been a first line center, a Bergeron level points guy if he had two great wingers to play with. 

 

As for Luongo, he's exactly where he should be.   With McLean.   No number retirement.   It was one of the happiest days i've ever been as a Canuck fan, when we traded for him, was a massive Luongo fan for a couple seasons before he came.   Considered him a top 3 goalie, which he was of course, when in Florida.    Was regularly peppered, 40 plus shots a game on a bad team.   Made a bad team mediocre, and said at the time, we now can win a cup.    No Luongo, no peak Sedin team, we'd have been good, but not as good as SJ and other teams in our division and conference. 

 

It's too bad Kesler never had top wingers to play with ... didn't matter though, because he was so good, like elite players, he could play with anyone and drive a line all on his own.   Apologies to Samuellson, Higgins or whomever.    

 

Welcome Luo!   A very special player and talent.   He was the best player on that team for the most part during that era. 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by IBatch

[IBatch]

4 hours ago, Win2024 said:

I disagree with some Canucks fans who say Luongo never wanted to play in Vancouver. He signed that contract thinking he'd retire here. I've never blamed him for anything that happened as he thought it was going to be Schneider's team and had mentally moved on; then Gillis trades Schneider instead and we all know this already ladee da. Then Tortorella benches him for Eddie Lack (lol). Organization probably left him bitter and he deserved better from management and coaches. And I don't blame him fpr wanting to go back to Florida as his wife is from there and he had prior roots there. Maybe he could have done the organization a favor by opening up to more teams, but maybe he would only leave vancouver for Florida and anything else was seen as a downgrade, idk.   Just my take. 

Fans get and for sure were a little pissy about his contract.   That didn't sit well.   What they fail to realize, what the heck would have JB done with that extra money anyways?  Likely blown it.    And we were in a rebuild phase anyways.    Only the bubble year would have mattered, and it wouldn't have got us to the finals.  

 

MG designed that contract, to pay Luongo what he was actually worth.   A lot more cap percentage wise, more like what Nonis gave him (a ton!), if it was a normal long term deal which of course it was not.     Luongo didn't lose any money on that deal, because it was massively front loaded.   Imagine what you could do in todays dollars, with 14 or so million the first year alone ... by the time his deal was up, a basic accounting/finance course would show you, that money would be worth a heck of a lot more invested, then getting it one year at a time.   It's one of a GMs tools in keeping the cap hit lower than it should be with their marquee and blue chip UFAs.    It also mitigated taxes to a degree, although  back then we paid 7% less (same as Alberta's teams now).    The league did slap us with a fine.   Because of the bonus's.   No way, would we have been able to have a team that deep, if Luongo signed a normal modern 8 year deal, he'd have got the same amount of money.    The league knew that, as did informed fans.   Would be like EP getting a one year deal to tie him over until close to free agency, then paying him 8.5 x 12, but giving him most of the money over the first few years.    MG found the loophole,  that deal closed it next CBA.   And was part of the reason there was a half season lockout. 

 

Edit:  Best part for us fans, it gave us the 2011 run.   And two regular seasons, that were spectacular.    Also made fans right across the country.   When I moved close to OTT, it reminded me of the early - mid 90's Leaf games at home, where it seemed like half the fans in our barn, we're wearing Leafs merch.   Instead, in the Sens barn, it seemed like half the place was wearing Canucks merch.   That is gone now, and has been for half a decade.    There still is a group of maybe 100 fans who sit in the same spot every time the Canucks go to OTT,  but it's not the same.   We used to match them with "Go CANUCKS GO!" and then "Go SENS GO!".    It was good fun!  Loungo is a huge part of that.   Back in 2011, saw Canucks flags all over.    Don't know what it was like in TO or other cities, but the Ottawa valley was sure rooting for us.   And MTL has a long history of hating the Bruins ... so it definitely wasn't "Us against the world". 

Edited September 28, 2023 by IBatch

[Grandmaster]

7 hours ago, RU SERIOUS said:

Tickets starting selling abit more at 10:15 onwards when there were many tickets in the $90 range available.  Now they're $125 and up but still lots of seats available due to the massive loss of season ticket holders leaving thousands of empty seats/per game due to Aqua-Lini's meddling & mis-management of the franchise for the last decade.

 

Looks like you’re right. Lots of standard tickets left. My friend heard wrong. Not a sellout yet. It will be though. It will be nice to see Lui honoured. 

[Kevin Biestra]

2 hours ago, IBatch said:

If Luongo's up there, one could argue  Kesler should be too.  Both said and did things near the end of their time with us which should keep their numbers from retirement.   Solid no from me about going to the rafters.   Burrows went to the ROH right away, to me that meant Bieksa should have as well.     Wouldn't have a problem with all those guys eventually going there.    The club was right to limit the Sedins number from that period, retired.    McLean played longer, and his peak was every bit as good as Luongo's', and his run to the final was better.     Luongo of course was amazing.   Was absolutely stoked when we got him.   We'd lacked elite goaltending for a long time by then, and that included McLeans mediocre final couple seasons with us.

 

Back to Kesler.   Watching him play the way he did, work his way up the roster, and become arguably the best second line center in the league for 5 or so years for us was something.   2010 he was all-world.   Almost single handedly willed the US to a gold medal.    Was the best forward both sides, that gold medal game.   Know he said some things, our fanbase can sure cancel people fast and forget all the good times fast too.    Was a much deserved Selke finalist, runner up then winner 3 years in a row for us, also 8th in Hart, rightly so in 2011.    Played a decade as a Canuck.   

 

Stayed away from the Kesler bashing.   Because, well we'd have to go all the way back to Ronning (another guy who for sure would be up there if he played a few more seasons..and i'd consider anyways given his Vancouver roots), to find a second line center as good as him.   Kesler could have been a first line center, a Bergeron level points guy if he had two great wingers to play with. 

 

As for Luongo, he's exactly where he should be.   With McLean.   No number retirement.   It was one of the happiest days i've ever been as a Canuck fan, when we traded for him, was a massive Luongo fan for a couple seasons before he came.   Considered him a top 3 goalie, which he was of course, when in Florida.    Was regularly peppered, 40 plus shots a game on a bad team.   Made a bad team mediocre, and said at the time, we now can win a cup.    No Luongo, no peak Sedin team, we'd have been good, but not as good as SJ and other teams in our division and conference. 

 

It's too bad Kesler never had top wingers to play with ... didn't matter though, because he was so good, like elite players, he could play with anyone and drive a line all on his own.   Apologies to Samuellson, Higgins or whomever.    

 

Welcome Luo!   A very special player and talent.   He was the best player on that team for the most part during that era.

 

Yeah I have said for a while that Lou deserves whatever treatment McLean gets.  Two #1s in the ROH sounds right to me.

 

The thing with Burrows compared to Bieksa and Kesler is the 800 games.  That's real longevity with the team.  And the Dragon Slayer goal although if we were going to heap honors upon players for one moment there would be a bronze statue of Cowan the Bra-barian.

 

Kesler...great player.  Just I think a bit too much of an a-hole for either of the top two team honors.  He was a bit abrasive to the city and the fans as well...  He is kind of like Bertuzzi.  The ROH was his if he just did a layup with the rest of his career with no big F ups.

 

Ronning...I would put him up there even with the relative lack of longevity.  He would be maybe 6th on my list of overlooked candidates but there was a reason he was the one brought out by the team when they temporarily retired #7 as the number for "the fans as the 7th man" before pretending that never happened.  Give Cliff a real night.  People who didn't see it probably can't appreciate what his impact was in those playoffs in the early 90s.  He was a demigod in that first series against LA.  Best player on either team in that series including Gretzky.

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Kevin Biestra

[MikeyD]

19 hours ago, Goalie29 said:

And for an added bonus...

 

I like the bobblehead but why stick him in that hideous jersey? 

[IBatch]

2 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

Yeah I have said for a while that Lou deserves whatever treatment McLean gets.  Two #1s in the ROH sounds right to me.

 

The thing with Burrows compared to Bieksa and Kesler is the 800 games.  That's real longevity with the team.  And the Dragon Slayer goal although if we were going to heap honors upon players for one moment there would be a bronze statue of Cowan the Bra-barian.

 

Kesler...great player.  Just I think a bit too much of an a-hole for either of the top two team honors.  He was a bit abrasive to the city and the fans as well...  He is kind of like Bertuzzi.  The ROH was his if he just did a layup with the rest of his career with no big F ups.

 

Ronning...I would put him up there even with the relative lack of longevity.  He would be maybe 6th on my list of overlooked candidates but there was a reason he was the one brought out by the team when they temporarily retired #7 as the number for "the fans as the 7th man" before pretending that never happened.  Give Cliff a real night.  People who didn't see it probably can't appreciate what his impact was in those playoffs in the early 90s.  He was a demigod in that first series against LA.  Best player on either team in that series including Gretzky.

 

Burrows played more games for sure, but all three came in close to the same time...Burrows versus Bieksa for me is a wash.   Two more seasons, both a decade players.    Agree with the angry sentiment with Kesler, but he was a hero here for a long time too.   All played a decade in the big club,  Burrows last two years, a serious decline, where as Bieksa was still effective.     
 

As for Ronning, you probably have guessed that was my favourite Canuck team, the Quin built one.  Have zero issue at all with him...also think the club is missing a guy from the 80's teams.   For me, it was Butcher, know that's not a popular thing, but guy was all character.   Quin came in and got a lot for him for a reason.   Wasn't a fan of that trade at the start.   But didn't take long for that to change.  

[Kevin Biestra]

17 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Burrows played more games for sure, but all three came in close to the same time...Burrows versus Bieksa for me is a wash.   Two more seasons, both a decade players.    Agree with the angry sentiment with Kesler, but he was a hero here for a long time too.   All played a decade in the big club,  Burrows last two years, a serious decline, where as Bieksa was still effective.     
 

As for Ronning, you probably have guessed that was my favourite Canuck team, the Quin built one.  Have zero issue at all with him...also think the club is missing a guy from the 80's teams.   For me, it was Butcher, know that's not a popular thing, but guy was all character.   Quin came in and got a lot for him for a reason.   Wasn't a fan of that trade at the start.   But didn't take long for that to change.  

 

Butcher was great.  Even snuck in there for a game in the 1982 final as a rookie.

[RU SERIOUS]

3 hours ago, Grandmaster said:

Looks like you’re right. Lots of standard tickets left. My friend heard wrong. Not a sellout yet. It will be though. It will be nice to see Lui honoured. 

It will be.   Even though he was " a bum" when he left town, he did provide some of the most exciting times in Canucks history.  I'll be going.   (Got my tix yesterday for $110/ea in the uppers)

[BCNeil]

13 hours ago, RU SERIOUS said:

Tickets starting selling abit more at 10:15 onwards when there were many tickets in the $90 range available.  Now they're $125 and up but still lots of seats available due to the massive loss of season ticket holders leaving thousands of empty seats/per game due to Aqua-Lini's meddling & mis-management of the franchise for the last decade.

 

 

Just the overpriced blues left.   In summer you could still get the UB3 and 4 for under $50.  

Edited September 28, 2023 by BCNeil

[JeremyCuddles]

1 hour ago, RU SERIOUS said:

It will be.   Even though he was " a bum" when he left town, he did provide some of the most exciting times in Canucks history.  I'll be going.   (Got my tix yesterday for $110/ea in the uppers)

.917 save percentage and a 2.56 GAA in his final season with us and he was a bum? Better numbers than any of Demko's best seasons. Fans that really think Lu was bad at any point in his time here are out to lunch. Lol.

[Jaimito]

 

 

[Jess]

21 hours ago, Coconuts said:

 

It's possible but I dunno, same goes for Bieksa. Both were popular players and personalities, particularly Bieksa, but I wonder if their Ducks tenure may not work against them a bit? Doesn't negate what they did as Canucks, certainly, but I dunno. 

 

Edler is a slam dunk though, broke many of Ohlund's D records as a Canuck, 925 games played. He'll continue to hold those records until Quinn eventually breaks some of them.

 

Kes played 665 games, Juice played 597. Burr played 822. 

 

I'm still disappointed Eddie never hit 1k as a Canuck, he'd have been only the fourth player to have played that many games in a Canucks uniform. 

 

Yeah, I'm not really sold on Juice or Kesler. If Juice is in, do we have to add Salo too? At some point, you have to wonder if we're lowering the bar too much. I love those guys, but there's got to be a limit somewhere.

 

Edler is an easy ROH candidate though.

[Coconuts]

6 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

 

Yeah, I'm not really sold on Juice or Kesler. If Juice is in, do we have to add Salo too? At some point, you have to wonder if we're lowering the bar too much. I love those guys, but there's got to be a limit somewhere.

 

Edler is an easy ROH candidate though.

 

Every player who was popular doesn't have to be up for honors, sometimes we just have to consider ourselves fortunate 

 

I was an advocate of keeping Bo, he's earning more than I'd have wanted to pay him but I was, doesn't mean I'll advocate his being honored 

 

Juice and Kes had fantastic stretches as Canucks and were largely well liked by fans while here, I think it just speaks to the teams we had during the late 2000's/early 2010's that so many core guys are fondly remembered 

 

But yeah, outside of Eddie I don't see us adding anyone soon

 

Same goes with Jersey retirement, maybe Pettersson or Hughes get up there someday but I don't see any anyone else in the system who may be deserving of such an honor 

 

The Canucks have already had a lower bar than I would regarding jersey retirement as is 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

4 hours ago, IBatch said:

Burrows played more games for sure, but all three came in close to the same time...Burrows versus Bieksa for me is a wash.   Two more seasons, both a decade players.    Agree with the angry sentiment with Kesler, but he was a hero here for a long time too.   All played a decade in the big club,  Burrows last two years, a serious decline, where as Bieksa was still effective.     
 

As for Ronning, you probably have guessed that was my favourite Canuck team, the Quin built one.  Have zero issue at all with him...also think the club is missing a guy from the 80's teams.   For me, it was Butcher, know that's not a popular thing, but guy was all character.   Quin came in and got a lot for him for a reason.   Wasn't a fan of that trade at the start.   But didn't take long for that to change.  

Was Kesler an a hole?  Sure but that came with the player.  And he was elite (defensively) in his prime as a Canuck.  Never took a shift off.

[Snoop Hogg]

13 hours ago, Win2024 said:

 

How can you say that when Bob Essensa played here?

Or Arturs Irbe!

[Grandmaster]

3 hours ago, RU SERIOUS said:

It will be.   Even though he was " a bum" when he left town, he did provide some of the most exciting times in Canucks history.  I'll be going.   (Got my tix yesterday for $110/ea in the uppers)

I paid $165 each for lower bowl corner, 6 rows up! Used the BCAA discount 

[The Duke]

On 9/27/2023 at 11:12 AM, The Social Hermit said:

Great goalie, but he played 572 games for the Panthers and 448 for the Canucks. To me that says Ring of Honour, not rafters.

100% - the guy lives in Florida and works (worked?) for their org. Great player but not a jersey retirement level one.

 

He was a great goaltender and HOF for sure due to longevity, Olympic success and sustained high level of play.

 

But I don’t think he ever caught the highs (or the imagination of the fanbase) of anyone else in the rafters.  This is where he belongs.

[gwarrior]

Best goalie the Canucks have had..... so far at least. I kind of do wonder that if he had retired here, would his #1 be retired. And yeah, I know Bure left too, and his number is retired. But I can't help but wonder............

[BCNeil]

8 minutes ago, gwarrior said:

Best goalie the Canucks have had..... so far at least. I kind of do wonder that if he had retired here, would his #1 be retired. And yeah, I know Bure left too, and his number is retired. But I can't help but wonder............

 

If he never left the Canucks and played a few more years?  Yeah it would be retired for sure.  

[Captain Kirk]

On 9/27/2023 at 10:35 AM, Master Mind said:

Best Canucks goaltender of all time.

Kirk got us closer to the cup.

[Kevin Biestra]

On 9/27/2023 at 11:10 PM, Win2024 said:

I disagree with some Canucks fans who say Luongo never wanted to play in Vancouver. He signed that contract thinking he'd retire here. I've never blamed him for anything that happened as he thought it was going to be Schneider's team and had mentally moved on; then Gillis trades Schneider instead and we all know this already ladee da. Then Tortorella benches him for Eddie Lack (lol). Organization probably left him bitter and he deserved better from management and coaches. And I don't blame him fpr wanting to go back to Florida as his wife is from there and he had prior roots there. Maybe he could have done the organization a favor by opening up to more teams, but maybe he would only leave vancouver for Florida and anything else was seen as a downgrade, idk.   Just my take. 

 

I do blame Luongo for the Schneider's team / mentally moving on thing.  He overreacted to Schneider getting the start in some games in one series.  Kirk McLean lost his starting job twice...to Troy Gamble and then to Corey Hirsch.  Both times he hit the gym and put his time in on the ice and won his job back.  He didn't say his contract sucks and oh well it's Troy's team now what can I do, screw this place...

 

I like Luongo but he handled that particular situation like a bit of a reactionary prima donna.  The coach thought the other guy was a better bet to win those particular games.  Deal with it...

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by Kevin Biestra

[TheRocket18]

Any ideas of which section would be best for viewing the unveiling?

[TheRocket18]

Any idea of the section or area where its going?

 

Cmon gotta be somebody who knows something...