This week the Vancouver Canucks announced Roberto Luongo is set to be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honour next season after a storied career with the team.
Known as the franchise leader in wins (252) and shutouts (38), Luongo dawned the pads as the second most-played goalie in the league for a total of 1,044 games, spanning 20 years.
448 of those regular season games were spent guarding the net for the Vancouver Canucks, where he spent eight seasons from 2006 to 2014.
In a media release, the Canucks organization said they were proud to welcome Luongo to the “prestigious list of Canucks Ring of Honour inductees.”
“Roberto experienced many of his career highlights as a Vancouver Canuck and is deservingly viewed as one of the best goaltenders our game has ever seen thanks to those moments,” said Jim Rutherford, Vancouver Canucks President, Hockey Operations.
At first glance, the news of Luongo’s induction appeared as a compliment to Luongo’s storied career with the hockey franchise.
However, Luongo’s die-hard fans would disagree, shortly after the Canucks announced on social media that he would become the eighth member of the team’s Ring of Honour, an outpour of fans began expressing frustration towards the hockey club for a lack of recognition of Luongo’s impressive credentials.
Regarded as an insult to the player and his fans, the Canucks quickly took down their announcement on Twitter due to the overwhelming criticism.
The Ring of Honour was first created in 2010 to “celebrate Canucks heroes who have made a lasting impact on the franchise.”
Luongo’s induction makes him the second goaltender alongside Kirk McLean (1987-94) to join the Ring of Honour. Previous inductees include Orland Kurtenbach, Harold Snepsts, Thomas Gradin, Kirk McLean, Pat Quinn, Mattias Ohlund, and Alex Burrows.
Fans took to Twitter, saying more should be done to pay tribute to Luongo’s years playing with the Canucks. Some say his jersey number deserves to be retired.
The greatest goaltender in franchise history deserves more than the Ring of Honour.
His jersey belongs in the rafters next to Daniel, Henrik, Linden, Bure, Naslund, and Smyl.#retire1
— Brian Wiebe (he/him) (@Brian_Wiebe) December 1, 2022
Bushleague and disrespectful to arguably the greatest player that's ever played here.
Retire the Number.
— BoestMode (@BoestMode) December 1, 2022
“The best moments of my career was when I was here (in Vancouver). To be able to relive them a little bit in the next while, take it in and thank the fans, it’s a nice way to cap it all off,” said Luongo, a day after the announcement was made.
"The best moments of my career was when I was here (in Vancouver). To be able to relive them a little bit in the next while, take it in and thank the fans, it's a nice way to cap it all off." pic.twitter.com/kJ61uLHWB8
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 1, 2022
What do you think, should Luongo’s jersey be retired or stay in the game?
