November 10th: Roberto Luongo Becomes 4th all-time in Wins
Roberto Luongo has been a cornerstone of the Florida Panthers franchise, and to see this achievement was incredible. Drafted in 1999 by the Islanders, the Panthers saw promise in the Canadian net minder, and traded Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha to Long Island for Olli Jokinen and Roberto Luongo.
He spent some of his time struggling behind a makeshift defense, but gradually got better as his career progressed, averaging a 2.59 GAA in four seasons, completing 22 shutouts. Lu was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 2006, where he almost caught glimpse of the Stanley Cup, but had it yanked from his hands by Boston in 2011, outlasted by fellow former Panther, Tim Thomas, in seven games.
The Cats brought Lu back in 2014, in exchange for Jacob Markstrom and Shawn Matthias, where Luongo and Steve Anthony headed to South Florida. Not only was this a total fleece by Dale Tallon, but the impact of Luongo was felt massively in 2015-16 as the Cats rampaged back to postseason birth.
This season Luongo won his 455th game in Buffalo against the Sabres, passing Curtis Joseph to 4th on the all-time list. Luongo’s victory was celebrated by all of South Florida to win so many games for the Panthers, and the 38 year-young goalie is still going strong at the moment, recovering from an injury he suffered in December against, what do you know, the Islanders.