Canucks owner Aquilini shouts out Luongo, will jersey retirement follow?

Roberto Luongo is a Hall of Famer.

The former Vancouver Canucks goalie got the call for the Hall today, along with former teammates Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

Five other former Canucks had previously been inducted into the Hall of Fame as players. With all due respect to Cam Neely, Igor Larionov, Mark Messier, and Mats Sundin — only one, Pavel Bure, was inducted mainly for his years in Vancouver.

Bure was inducted in 2012. One year later, he had his jersey retired by the Canucks.

Will the same happen for Luongo?

Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini congratulated the Sedins and Luongo on Twitter today, calling all three “among the greatest Canucks of all-time.”

Thrilled and proud to see three @Vancouver #Canucks headed to @HockeyHallFame! Congrats to Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Roberto Luongo—among the greatest Canucks of all time.

— Francesco Aquilini (@fr_aquilini) June 27, 2022

Is that foreshadowing?

Ranking fourth all-time in NHL history in wins, Luongo was a slam-dunk selection for the Hall of Fame, which isn’t easy to do for a goalie. Just six goalies had been named to the Hall of Fame since 1993 prior to Luongo’s selection.

He was an easy choice to get his jersey retired by the Panthers in 2020.

But what about in Vancouver?

Luongo played 572 games for the Panthers, more than the 448 he suited up for during his time with the Canucks. He did have more wins with the Canucks (252) than the Panthers (230), to go with a sparkling .919 save percentage for both franchises.

Undoubtedly the greatest goalie in franchise history, Luongo’s jersey retirement case is comparable to Bure.

Both Hall of Famers, Bure actually played fewer games with the Canucks (428) than did Luongo. They each had messy exits from Vancouver also.

The Canucks waited more than 10 years after Bure’s final NHL game to retire his No. 10 jersey. In other words, for a long time, he wasn’t an obvious choice.

Luongo doesn’t have universal support either — at least not yet. Neither did Markus Naslund, who had his jersey retired in 2010, so it’s not a prerequisite.

The Canucks have been criticized by some fans for the number of retired jerseys already in the rafters, given the franchise has never won a Stanley Cup. The team has retired six jerseys, beginning with Stan Smyl in 1991, followed by Trevor Linden (2008), Naslund (2010), Bure (2013), and the Sedins (2020).

Luongo does qualify by that standard. So is the standard changing or is the team simply taking its time to honour the legendary goaltender?

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