We know that there are good hockey reasons why the Vancouver Canucks have yet to trade goaltender Roberto Luongo.
We also know that there are good hockey reasons why the Florida Panthers have been slow to offer up the right pieces to require the Olympic gold medalist and two-time Second Team NHL All-Star. Generally, they involve the fact that the Canucks have designs on a highly-touted Panthers prospect, forward Nick Bjugstad of the University of Minnesota, and the fact that the Panthers have a hot goaltending prospect in Jacob Markstrom who could be NHL-ready in the very near future. The question, from Florida general manager Dale Tallon's perspective, is why the Panthers should give up a hot prospect like Bjugstad to acquire Luongo, only to face the same kind of goaltending dilemma in a couple of years that Vancouver currently has with Luongo and Cory Schneider.
For most NHL teams, the best answer for that is that a hot goaltending prospect is a very different animal from an All-Star NHL goaltender, and that even a prospect as promising as Markstrom can fail to pan out at the highest level. That lack of a guarantee, however, probably wouldn't move many teams to part with Bjugstad and whatever else the Canucks will want in return.
It should, however, move the Panthers.
It hasn't exactly been easy building an NHL franchise in south Florida. Yes, there was the rat-powered run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, but the Panthers have been to the playoffs just three times since, never making it out of the first round. A combination of uninspiring results, the remote location of the BankAtlantic Center (outside Fort Lauderdale as opposed to in Miami) and the poor fit of hockey in the Miami area have combined to make Florida a regular in the bottom third of the league when it comes to attendance figures.
Right now, though, the Panthers are as hot as they've been in some time. Florida won its division last season for the first time in team history, and attendance is the highest it's been since the team moved to the BankAtlantic Center. The Panthers should be able to ride that momentum in the community as they keep building in 2012-13, but the prospect of an NHL lockout threatens to put a crimp in Florida's ability to make further strides raising the team's profile.
Enter Luongo. He's already a familiar face in the area, and the reality is that he's a star, and he has earned that by being among the NHL's best goaltenders for most of his career. Say what you will about his postseason meltdowns, but he's a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist, a former Jennings Trophy winner with Schneider in 2011, and a former finalist for both the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award (in its previous incarnation as the Lester B. Pearson). The Panthers could use the excitement of bringing back a top star to add to a team that won the Southeast Division last season.
If the Panthers ultimately decide to keep Bjugstad, stay on track with Markstrom, and rely on Jose Theodore and Scott Clemmensen to hold down the fort until Markstrom is ready, it will be understandable. It may even prove to be the right move in the long run. However, based on where the Panthers are now, they could do far worse than bring back Roberto Luongo.
