Goaltender Luongo's 'Quote Of the Year' Reveals Frustration

“My contract sucks.” With those three little words, Vancouver Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo (pictured) laid bare the core problem of his situation. He’s not getting much sympathy for his statement, but perhaps he can be admired a little for his honesty.

No one held a gun to his head when he signed a 12-year, $64-million deal in 2010, which contains a salary-cap hit of $5.33 million. It’s proven to be nothing but trouble for all concerned ever since. Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said he had talks with at least four teams at the trade deadline, but nothing could be worked out. No team wanted to take on that kind of financial risk, even if Luongo is still one of the elite goaltenders in the league. So there he stood at the podium at a news conference and said of his onerous contract, “If I could rip it up, I would.”

It’s obviously not about the money: who would refuse that kind of offer? No, it’s about how that kind of contract is an anchor hitched to his butt, which has been spending a lot of time on the Canucks’ bench lately. Cory Schneider is now the team’s No. 1 puckstopper, and he’s playing like it: 13-7-3 with four shutouts and a .925 save percentage. If he starts against the Calgary Flames on Saturday night, it will be the 10th game in a row that Luongo has sat and watched the action wearing a ball cap instead of a mask.

As if that wasn’t enough, the day after the news conference was Bobby Lu’s 34th birthday. With his wife and two children back home in south Florida, his parents came from Montreal to Vancouver to celebrate — and commiserate.

“They obviously want what’s best for their son,” Luongo said in an interview. “I’ve been here for seven years and they know exactly what type of impact certain things have. They follow it as closely as anybody else and, you know, there’s not much you can do but sit there and watch. I’m a big boy and I can make my decisions and conduct myself the way I want but, obviously, they’re parents and they care and they’re worried.”

Luongo is a professional, but he’s also a competitor. It’s easy to say, “Hey you, shut up and take their money and do what they want.” But he wants to play; he’s trained his whole life to be between the pipes, not collecting splinters on the bench. The situation is forcing him to be a spectator, and even with the good humour he displays on his @strombone1 Twitter account, this is obviously eating him up. Of course, there is one thing which could make it all better: if the team goes out and captures a Stanley Cup.