Canucks not paying for Luongo contract for first time in 12 years

There’s a notable name missing from the Canucks’ CapFriendly page this season.

Roberto Luongo.

Finally.

Luongo signed the most expensive contract in Vancouver Canucks history 13 years ago this month.

And despite the fact he hasn’t played for the team in over eight years, and has been retired from professional hockey for three of them, the Canucks have been paying for that contract ever since.

Until this season.

Not literally of course. Luongo stopped getting paid by the Canucks and Florida Panthers after he retired in 2019.

But the 2022-23 season marks the first year the Canucks don’t have a Luongo-related cap hit since 2006, when they acquired the Hall of Fame goaltender in a trade with the Panthers.

Former GM Mike Gillis signed Luongo to a 12-year, $64 million contract extension on September 2, 2009. The front-loaded deal kicked in one year later, paying Luongo $10 million in 2010-11.

The structure of the contract helped reduce Luongo’s cap hit from $6.75 million in 2009-10 to $5.33 million in subsequent seasons, despite the fact he was likely due for a raise on the previous contract Dave Nonis signed him to in 2006.

The contract, which was fully legal at the time it was signed, was both team- and player-friendly.

But the 2012-13 NHL lockout changed all that, with the introduction of the cap-recapture penalty in the new CBA, designed to retroactively penalize teams for signing back-diving deals like Luongo’s. Luongo was due to make just $1.618 million in 2019-20, and $1 million in each of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

Just one problem. Many players in Luongo’s situation have mysteriously suffered a career-ending ailment at the precise moment their annual salary dropped, sending them to the long-term injured reserve loophole instead of cap-recapture hell.

But Luongo, who had his fair share of injuries late in his career, opted to retire, which was his right.

Vancouver and to a much lesser extent Florida, were punished because of it.

The Canucks were hit with a cap-recapture penalty of $3,035,212 per season in 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. The Panthers’ penalty was $1,092,122 per season — which was reportedly preferable to them than paying the remainder of Luongo’s contract in real money.

My understanding is the #FlaPanthers actually encouraged Luongo to retire instead of LTIR. They not only save $3.6 million in real cash salary, but the $1.1 million cap recapture is negligible compared to wrangling with $5.7 million on LTIR.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 26, 2019

The Canucks would be finally free to spend to the cap ceiling this season if not for the fact they’re paying Braden Holtby $1.9 million and Jake Virtanen $500,000 this season. They were each bought out in 2021.

But hey, there’s always next year.

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