Posted by Roberto Luongo put an emphatic end to all the rumours and talk surrounding his contract negotiations on Wednesday as he signed his name to a 12-year, $64-million extension, making him a Vancouver Canuck until the 2021-2022 season (theoretically).
 Roberto Luongo |
| Photo by: Orlandkurtenbach – Wikimedia Commons |
Like a number of similar contracts that have been signed in the past couple of years, this one is front-loaded, paying Luongo $10 million in its first season (2010-2011), ranging down to $1 million at the end of the contract. In being structured like this, Luongo receives market-value money in his peak years, while the salary cap hit for the Canucks is a very reasonable $5.3 million per season.
(In case you were wondering, should Luongo’s play deteriorate around age 40, the Canucks would be able to buy out the remainder of his contract at two-thirds the remaining value, distributed across twice the number of years, and the cap hit would be adjusted downward accordingly. In other words, it’s kind of messy and math-intensive. But don’t worry — it won’t be a problem for a while.)
So, everyone wins, right? Certainly, GM Mike Gillis has to consider this a huge feather in his cap — he has one of the, if not the, top goaltender in the world most likely playing out his career in Vancouver, at an affordable cap number, and thus avoids any potential distraction that ongoing contract talks might have caused. For his part, Luongo can finish his career in a city which, by all accounts, he loves playing in, for a fair salary.
But what of Cory Schneider? Last season’s winner of the Baz Bastien Memorial Trophy (AHL’s goaltender of the year) and Hap Holmes Memorial Trophy (fewest goals against), Schneider has become a bonafide blue-chip goaltending prospect.
 Cory Schneider |
| Photo courtesy of Canorcas – Wikimedia Commons |
But now, his way with the Canucks is impassably blocked. And, as his stint with the Canucks last season showed, he is still raw, an unknown commodity, and thus unlikely to fetch the kind of trade value expected of a top prospect. Look for Canucks management to spotlight Schneider during the preseason and hopefully improve his trade prospects. And if he isn’t traded by the start of the regular season? It’s hard to say whether he and his trade prospects would be better served by spending yet another season in Manitoba or carrying Luongo’s jockstrap in Vancouver.
However, unless your name is Cory Schneider (or you’re one of those purists who can’t stand to see a goalie named as team captain), this latest development has to be considered a home run and a landmark moment for a Vancouver Canuck franchise which hasn’t had many of them.
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