Roberto Luongo is a Florida Sports Hall of Famer. He’s an Italian Walk of Famer in Toronto’s Little Italy. And after 1,044 career NHL games, 70 playoff games, two Olympic gold medals and a transition to hockey executive, Luongo is a first-ballot Hockey Hall of Famer.
Luongo is set to be formally inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday evening with fellow Class of 2022 members Daniel Alfredsson, Riikka Sallinen, Herb Carnegie and former teammates Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
On Sunday, Luongo joined The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy to talk about his experience during this four-day celebration. He remembered the call that he’d been inducted and how he quickly asked if the Sedins made the cut as well.
But as Luongo is now a special assistant to Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito, he also talked about an emerging strategy in the NHL where goalie tandems are getting more even playing time.
The Panthers currently have two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky and up-and-coming star sophomore Spencer Knight with a nearly 50-50 share of the games, with eight and seven games played, respectively.
What does Luongo think of this strategy and how it might feel for the goalies, considering he played more than 70 games in a season four times?
Luongo also spoke with W. Graeme Roustan about their Montreal roots, what it was like being part of a memorable group of French Canadian NHL goalies and why it might be more challenging to get more Canadian kids between the pipes.
The Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony is expected to start at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcasted on TSN 4 and 5 and the NHL Network.
