Let's do this so long ago.

He retires yesterday and today doing it.

TG Hall of Fame added to the playlist.

Ah, and you know, I've been a long will fan the whole way along.

He's drafted number fourth overall.

He's drafted forth around, said number four.

Number four or fourth number fourth.

That's not a not a term, Um, thus it's born.

So number fourth overall is Roberta Long ago back in 1997 and when he's drafted that high up, there's some risk to that.

He doesn't make the team out of the out of the draft, and then 99 2000 comes along.

He placed 24 games for the Islanders, seven wins, 14 losses and in overtime loss in there or tie.

Because I understand this, this could be a mix of both Ah, 3.25 goals against average a 904 save percentage.

He plays okay, and you get the feeling with the rookie that that he's he's gonna be something pretty good and Mike Milbury figures in the 2000 draft Well, I'm I'm drafting first.

I like that dp Etro kid in net.

So we don't need two starters.

So between the two, Luang goes, the one that could go so June 24th 2000.

The New York Islanders Mike Milbury trades long ago with only oh Com'on as a throw in for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

Parrish had a couple of good seasons, is an Islander, but long ago in Florida, it's, Ah, it's right away.

It's fantastic.

47 games played in 2000.

2001.

12 wins, 24 losses.

Seven overtime losses.

2.44 goals against 9 20 state percentage.

That's a percentage was seventh overall that year.

And for a team in Florida, that was miserably bad.

So right away, it's It's long ago and Lubango and long ago when you look at who the M V P for the float for the Florida Panthers is because they're not a very good team.

1 4000 to replace 58 games, a record of 16 33 and 42.77 goals against average 9 15 save percentage, which is 10th overall, and again, it's worthy of note that that he's putting up good numbers on a really bad team.

2000 to 2003 place.

65 games record of 2034 72.71 goals against average 9 18 save percentage.

This is why Winds totals to me have always been kind of false.

If we look in anyone given season at who the best goaltender in the league is, you're not always going to say the guy who finished first and wins, You're not always gonna look at that guy and go.

He was the best goaltender this year and this summer that would be an interesting one to look at and say who were statistically the best goaltenders and not have winds.

Be one of those big factors because Lago is only one of all 50 games so far in his career and he's lost a ton of them.

But in terms of how many are his fault, not many at all 3 4004 and this is when his reputation really really steps up.

He plays 72 games, is a record of 25 33 14 and goals against average of 2.43 and save percentage off 9 31 So he has the third best safe percentage in the entire National Hockey League.

He finished his sixth in heart voting on a team that doesn't make the playoffs, and he finishes third in the Vezina voting that year as well.

Now we lose the season.

He's second team All Star before we lose the season.

And the talk around the NHL at that point is long goes the best kept secret in the league.

He plays in Florida.

There are miserably bad team, but he makes their results more respectable than they have any right to be.

He's dragging them into overtime.

He is the best goaltender in league is starting to become part of the conversation.

Coming out of the lock out 2005 he placed 75 games, has a record of 35 30 and nine 2.97 goals against average in 9 14 save percentage, which is ninth.

So save percentages take a hit coming out of La Cote because the NHL starts cracking down on the trap, so his numbers were still decent.

He finishes seventh in the Vezina voting.

They've known us the sat down who's the best goaltender in league?

They asked him a hockey night in Canada.

And, he says, before they could almost finish the question.

Roberta long ago known us, makes the trade that he really kind of ran on for the rest of the time.

He was general manager in Vancouver, Ah, June 23rd of 2000 and six.

He has traded Roberta long ago with Lucas cry.

Check to the Canucks in exchange for Todd Bertuzzi, Brian, Alan and I have solved.

The Canucks also got 1/6 round pick they used for Sergei Shirokov, who never ends up being anything at the NHL level.

But Alex Auld had a decent year for Vancouver before that, and a guest, Florida was thinking, Well, we had him before.

We know what old is.

Looks like he's ready to be an NHL level starter.

And I think Florida was hoping that they could re energize the career of Todd Bertuzzi.

And, of course, that didn't work.

The great player of the Bertuzzi had been was no longer, um, and so Vancouver wins this trade going away.

6 4007 It is the season for the ages, 76 games 47 22 6 Record that 47 wins wasn't first that year because that was the year that Martie Broder ended up beating the record and he had 48 wins so long go right there with him goals against of 2.28 in the same percentage of 9 21 which was fourth overall.

He ends up being on the second team All Stars.

He, uh, place 12 games in the playoffs that year and has a record of five and seven.

And this is when I start getting, I don't know.

And again, you know, um, I completely removed from this.

No, but he put up a goals against that year of 1.77 and a state percentage of 9 41 And yet all I heard around here locally was about how he'd allowed that goal in overtime against the Ducks.

And he shouldn't have because he quit on the plane.

He was expecting a penalty.

The thing is, he had a 9 41 state percentage of 1.77 goals against average.

He was the only reason they beat Dallas in the first round.

He was the only reason they were in the playoffs in the first place.

There was, ah, image that existed, which showed the Canucks roster 20,007 playoff roster And it's just long ago.

They Photoshopped.

It says just long.

Go on.

The rest of the bench is empty and there's a reason for that.

Now, Um, he finishes second in the heart voting that year and second and voting for president now.

If he'd won the heart and the Vezina, we wouldn't have any debate about whether or not he's all of Famer or would we?

Course we would.

So 7 4008 a lot of expectations.

I really think the expectations for long, long ago were insane, and it's because off contracts so 2000 and six when he arrives in Vancouver June 29 2006 he signs a four year contract for 6.75 million a year, and the expectation was Guy better be the best goaltender every night then.

So 070 wait, we're gonna go to He finishes with a record of 35 29 92.38 goals against 9 17 safe percentage.

What's remembered about that season is that he had a bad last night.

He was three weeks of the season and the Connects fell out of a playoff spot.

What I remembered was he was the only reason they were in a playoff spot in the first place.

He ends up finishing 12th and heart voting because everybody knows he's the M V p for the connects.

He finished, they fit.

He finishes seventh and Vezina voting as well, despite that fall at the end of the season and again the criticism that he would get from from media and from some fans.

I'm not saying the majority was never the majority, but there was that criticism.

No, look, see, see what 6.75 million gets?

You can't even get in the playoffs with him.

He's not very good toe, which I remember thinking.

Oh, did did these people not watch what we had in that?

The goalie chaos we had for the 10 years before he got here.

So, uh, coming out of that in 2000 and eight, the Connex made a mistake.

The name I'm team Captain Mike Gillis in his infinite wisdom.

And anybody that would argue Mike Gillis should be a general manager again in the NHL.

I present to you a very good reason why that's a bad idea.

Roberta Longo's named captain.

It's not a bad idea for long ago.

Long ago.

Absolutely.

Captain Material?

Yes.

100%.

Yes, Leader of the team?

Absolutely.

Are they in the playoffs so that, um, no.

But really, In all honesty, you can't have a captain who's in net because he's in net.

So when all these arguments were going on with referees, he's in net.

You need a captain who's at center ice and is in and amongst all of this stuff below did the best he could, but his the perception was that it weighed on him.

He plays 54 games.

That year, there were injury concerns that started taking place Ah, 33 13 and seven record 2.34 goals against 9 20 save percentage, which is fifth overall in the NHL in the playoffs in 2009.

He finishes with a record of six and four in 10 games, 2.52 goals against 9 14 save percentage.

He's 10th in heart voting and forth and Vesna voting, and then it happens again.

So he gets shelved by the Blackhawks, Chicago Shells long ago and the Canucks.

And the point that I had made at the time.

And I still make this now is there were a lot of shots that Chicago had that was right between the hash marks in front of the net.

And then when you looked at where the connects for getting the shots from, they're getting a lot of shots from the outside and from way back and and Chicago was blocking Vancouver out of the middle.

Really, Really well, they were protecting their goaltender, whereas Vancouver was just letting Chicago t up so long ago.

Put up some ugly numbers.

But if you look at highlights from those games, most of those shots are just dead on straight front of the net.

And and, you know, it definitely affected how people saw him, And that's why I think we still have this debate about well, should he be in?

Should he not so, 09 20 12th year that he's captain.

He plays 68 games record of 40 22 foreign.

It's at this point that there's some complaining about how much longer is playing that vino just basically goes to Louis.

You want to play in Lugo's?

Yep, because luego won't admit that maybe he's hurting longer.

Remote.

Won't admit.

Maybe he needs a night off because he feels in part because of that contract he's got.

I got to go in the net.

I gotta prove that I'm worth the money.

He puts up AH, record of 40 22 4 which is amazing.

2.57 goals against, but the 9 13 safe percent.

It shows that he's he's not.

He wasn't really is consistent, that urine.

And there were fans, including myself, that felt he was being overplayed.

And then he'd play through injuries as well, which I think is part of the reason why, Well, he had an amazing career.

I think he could have gone on longer if he breasted some of those injuries.

Now in the playoffs, he goes six and six and 12 games, 3.23 goals against 8 95 state percentage.

He finished 10th and Vezina voting that year and this was this was where the whole Chicago thing really gets ugly, so they get out of the first round.

But What people remember is the second round, where things just fall apart against Chicago.

And again, it's the same thing.

Chicago, I believe, was up 3 to 1 in that series and then one in six.

It was one of those things.

Where Vancouver one, Game five and awake Yet they're not coming back.

It's not happening.

So what?

People remembered Waas that he got.

He got shelled.

And now we're starting to hear conversations.

Will Cory Schneider.

Cory Schneider is going to become the starter.

He's the future.

He's gonna be the guy and, oh, the curd guys right here.

It kind of felt like moving your new girlfriend into the house before the old girlfriends moved out.

That's how uncomfortable things were in Vancouver at that point.

2010 2011.

Miraculously, he wins the Jennings Trophy place.

60 games, 38 15 and seven.

Record 2.11 goals against 9 28 save percentage.

He finishes third and save percentage that year.

His numbers come up in part because he plays ate less games because he's got a very capable backup named Cory Schneider.

But he's looking over his shoulder.

Cory Schneider because that's the new girlfriend and the fans really want to spend time with the new girlfriend because at this point, we're already hearing a lot of rumblings about Schneider way.

We could go with Cory, Um, and and this this is this is a market that a talked about Raycroft in years previous as well.

I remember people say I Raycroft should play more.

I don't know, I don't know.

Red Cross Pretty good and thinking.

Raycroft So 2011.

He plays 25 games in the playoffs.

Gets 15 wins, 10 losses, 2.56 goals against average 9 14 state percentage.

Heart heart voting.

He's 17th and in the Vezina he finishes third in the voting.

But what everybody remembers what everybody recalls is how the meltdown took place against the Bruins.

One reason, and I still believe this, that the Vancouver Canucks didn't win the Stanley Cup in 2011 is because they didn't play Cory Schneider on the road.

Now he had a great 1st 3 rounds.

Did Luang go?

He really did.

He played well against Chicago.

He played well against the Sharks.

He played well against Nashville, gets into the finals against Boston, and it was like what Pecker Renee went through in 2017 and Pittsburgh.

Just there was something mentally that wasn't there.

The coal connects team was kind off.

And then in Game seven at home, the entire Connects team falls apart.