Roberto Luongo Jersey Card

Remember when Roberto Luongo said the Florida Panthers should try to win some games, and then the fans might come back? Turns out that's what they've been doing, mostly on Bobby Lou's strong work, what with a .933 save percentage through 8 games for a Panthers team that stands at an impressive 4-2-3 considering their line-up.

Sure, an injury to Jonathan Huberdeau or another of their young kids could seriously hamper the depth-deprived not-quite-Miami-based team, but as long as their goalie keeps them in most games, they'll contend for the 9th spot a lot longer than for last place.

In my season predictions, I mentioned I thought Lou would be ''back in Vezina form'', and I really think he can finish among the official top-3 finalists. He's still elite-level, he did get to play in the 2014 Olympics for Team Canada, he is among the two or three best Canadian goalies with Corey Crawford. The Americans and Europeans (particularly Russians, Fins and Swedes) have caught up to Canadians (and particularly Quebecers, who dominated the 1990s), but Luongo's still in that conversation, definitely top-10 in the league, but what gives him Vezina consideration is his turning an under-average team into one that actually wins more than it loses.

At this point, some 10 games in the season, here is how I rank NHL goalies this season / projecting by the end of the season (some who are famous for their late starts get some slack):

1. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
2. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
3. Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
4. Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning
5. Jonathan Quick, Los Angles Kings
6. Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers
7. Jonas Hiller, Calgary Flames
8. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
9. Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils
10. Carey Price, Montréal Canadiens

I also see Semyon Varlamov, Ben Scrivens and the Anaheim Ducks goalies getting in that mix, and I'm positive Jaroslav Halak will get comfortable behind the New York Islanders defense.

But it sure feels natural to see Luongo in the Panthers' uniform:

That's card #J-RL from Upper Deck's 2005-06 Black Diamond set, the Black Diamond Jersey sub-set. It shows him wearing the Panthers' black uniform, and features an orange swatch, either from the shoulder of the white or black jersey, or the main part of the red one.

Roberto Luongo Autographed Picture

Alright, full disclosure time.

I sent Roberto Luongo the following three cards (of him wearing the Florida Panthers uniform, explaining I was trying to gather cards of him in different jerseys) and a fan letter, care of the Vancouver Canucks, on November 29th, 2010:

I got them all back on February 2nd, 2011, unsigned, with a printed letter saying he'd enclosed an autographed picture to thank me for writing. Which would be this one:

I looked around the web to see if others had had the same picture, trying to find out if it was a real sig or an autopen; 150 Google Image pages later, I've come to the conclusion that it's real, based on the fact that there are tons of different of such pics, mine being the only one I've seen of his glove-hand catching the puck and the signature overlapping on his left-leg pad.

If anyone can attest to the contrary, I'd be glad to know and correct the post.

Roberto Luongo Jersey Card

Gotta love Pacific's craze for jersey cards in the first half of the 00s. It saturated the market with game-used collectibles and brought the price of many previously-rare items to an affordable low... until Upper Deck lost patience and struck back-room deals with the NHL and NHLPA for exclusive rights to NHL merchandise.

Still. This beautiful black patch of the Florida Panthers' third jersey (despite the card depicting Roberto Luongo in the team's white jersey) can often be had for around $10 on Ebay, despite its 'value' nearing $35. It's from the eponymous 2004-05 Pacific set (#16 in the Authentic Game-Worn Jerseys sub-set) and is numbered 424/850, a relatively high number for a limited edition.

It's the second Luongo jersey card I've featured here, the first one was when he took over for Martin Brodeur as Team Canada's goalie during the last Olympics. I still have a few more left, so hopefully he keeps making the news so I have reasons to feature him. And he'd better hope it's more positive news than what we've been hearing all summer, which is that his current team, the Vancouver Canucks, are thinking of revoking his captaincy. It seems Montréal isn't the only place where goalie talks occupy summer's dead hockey space.

Roberto Luongo Jersey Card

Today, a change of the guard occurs: Martin Brodeur will watch from the bench while Team Canada relies on Roberto Luongo to lead them to an Olympic medal.

Despite appearances (like, say, unmerited Vezina trophies for career achievements when it should be awarded to the season's best), Luongo has been the best Canadian goalie for the past 5 years. We're talking about a guy who was on possibly the worst team in the league yet managed to lead it in save percentage, breaking records for most shots against and most saves made in a single season.

He was made to carry teams; from his junior years, where he led two different teams to the Memorial Cup, two World Junior Championships (no medal as Mathieu Garon's back-up, silver as a starter), to appearing in 3 World Championships two gold medals, one silver), to being the highest-drafted goalie at the time (4th overall, since surpassed by both Rick DiPietro and fellow Canadian netminder Marc-André Fleury).

He still has a lot of playing left to do, both in these Olympic Games and in the NHL, so I'll leave it at that for now.

This card (#52) is from Pacific's 2000-01 Private Stock set and Authentic Game-Used Gear sub-set, and includes a swatch of a game-worn white jersey from his New York Islanders jersey, although the card lists him as a member of the Florida Panthers - he was traded on draft day by 'Crazy' Mike Milbury right after announcing their picking DiPietro; Luongo was sent to the Panthers along with the team's eventual captain Olli Jokinen in exchange for second-rate sniper Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

Luongo was quoted as saying:

"I didn't expect it at all. One day they're telling me I'm the goalie of the future, and the next day I'm gone. I didn't really appreciate that. The good side is that [the Panthers] wanted me."