Luongo enjoys ‘truly amazing feeling’ of joining Hall of Fame

There are a handful of players in the Hall of Fame with ties to the Panthers.

Ed Belfour (58 games), Dino Ciccarelli (42 games), Igor Larionov (26 games) and Joe Nieuwendyk (80 games) all grabbed a quick cup of coffee with the Cats toward their end of their careers, while Pavel Bure (223 games) won a pair of Rocket Richard Trophies during a flashy four seasons in South Florida.

But it wasn’t until this afternoon that a Hall-of-Fame player could truly be called a Panther.

A little more than two years after becoming the first player in franchise history to have his number retired, goaltender Roberto Luongo, who manned the crease for the Cats from 2000-2006 and again from 2014-2019, was one of four players named to the Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2022 on Monday.

“It’s truly an amazing feeling,” Luongo, who was just the fourth goaltender in the past 20 years to get in on their first ballot, joining Martin Brodeur (2018), Patrick Roy (2006) and Grant Fuhr (2003), said on a conference call after the announcement. “It feels surreal, to be honest with you. It kind of hasn’t hit me yet. I’ve been watching and getting a gazillion text messages. It’s a really, truly humbling experience.”

An experience he was able to share with the rest of Florida’s hockey operations department.

“[Panthers general manager] Bill Zito was asking me every five minutes if they’d called yet. I was like, ‘No, I don’t know if they’re going to call me.’ But he kept insisting,” chuckled Luongo, who in addition to leading the organization’s Goaltending Excellence Department also serves as a Special Advisor to Zito.

“We were just finishing up lunch when I saw the number and Lanny [McDonald] and Mike [Gartner] were on the line. Really excited and humbled to hear their voices letting me in on a little secret that I was going to the Hall. A great moment. Being able to share it with them at the office was special.”

Originally selected by the New York Islanders with the fourth overall pick in the 1997 NHL Draft, Luongo spent 19 seasons in the NHL, including parts of 11 with the Panthers. Second all-time in games played by a goaltender, he spent 572 of those games with Florida, 448 with Vancouver and just 24 with New York.

Climbing the NHL record books throughout his storied career, Luongo currently ranks fourth all-time in wins (489), ninth in shutouts (77) and second in saves (28,409). Additionally, he also stands as Florida’s all-time leader in games played by a goaltender (572), victories (23), shutouts (38) and saves (16,086).

A three-time finalist for the Vezina Trophy, Luongo earned five trips to the NHL All-Star Game, with three of them coming as a representative of the Panthers (2004, 2015, 2016). On the international stage, he backstopped Canada to gold at the Olympics in 2010, and won again as a backup in 2014.

Reflecting on his time with the Panthers, which bookended his eight seasons in Vancouver, Luongo said he views his time in South Florida as two very different and distinct stops on his Hall-of-Fame journey.

“It’s two parts, right?,” said Luongo, an all-time fan favorite as well. “The first part is where I came into the NHL. It was my second year after getting traded from the Islanders, and I was getting my chance to be a starter in the NHL and getting the opportunity to show the world who I am as a goaltender.

“When I came back the second time around, obviously it was a bit more as a veteran guy and I wanted to do something that I had never done with the Panthers, which was make the playoffs. We were able to do that the one year. We had a good series against the Islanders, and unfortunately we fell short.”

That being said, Luongo’s dreams of hoisting the Stanley Cup are still very much alive.

“I’m forever grateful to both franchises,” said Luongo, referencing the Cats and Canucks. “I can never be thankful enough of what the Florida Panthers did for me in both stints that I was here. I’m really happy to be part of the organization moving forward and hopefully win a Cup on the management side.”

When Luongo officials goes into the Hall of Fame in November, he’ll enter alongside two of his former Canucks teammates, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, as well as longtime Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson.

“The best part is that I get to go in with two of my favorite teammates of all time,” Luongo said.

Stay tuned for more information regarding Luongo’s special honor as his induction day approaches.