The course of Vancouver Canucks history could have been a lot different if Roberto Luongo called Mike Keenan back a little quicker on June 23, 2006.
That was the day the future Hall of Fame goaltender was traded to the Canucks, after he had trouble agreeing to a contract with Keenan, who was the GM of the Florida Panthers at the time.
Keenan dealt Luongo to Vancouver on the eve of the 2006 NHL Draft, in a deal that saw Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen, and Alex Auld traded to the Panthers.
In a recent interview with Spittin’ Chiclets, Luongo revealed that he actually agreed to the last contract offer from Keenan. He just didn’t answer in time.
“There was a little bit of a contract issue at the time and Mike Keenan was the GM… I didn’t want to go anywhere but I also wanted to win,” Luongo said in an interview with Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney, and Keith Yandle.
Already an All-Star goalie, Luongo had never played a playoff game with the sad-sack Florida franchise prior to the trade.
“I just wanted to see some progress and hopefully make the playoffs in the next year or two, and aspire to win a Cup. And with that came the contract negotiations.”
“They had offered me a contract and I wasn’t crazy about it, so I was thinking about it,” Luongo said. “When I got back to them… I said ‘OK, I’ll agree to it,’ the deal was already done.”
Had Luongo agreed to the contract sooner, he wouldn’t have been traded to Vancouver.
The Canucks weren’t the only team Keenan was talking to. He reportedly had a deal in place with the Boston Bruins for Joe Thronton, but Panthers ownership vetoed it due to financial reasons.
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Red Wings tried to get Luongo from Canucks
After the trade but before Luongo ever appeared in a game for the Canucks, he said he received an offer sheet from the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings were a powerhouse, but needed a No. 1 goalie, after moving on from Manny Legace.
Luongo turned them down.
“When I was traded to Van, I didn’t have a signed contract yet, I actually got offer-sheeted by Detroit. I didn’t accept it though,” Luongo said.
Had Luongo agreed to the offer sheet, then-Canucks GM Dave Nonis would have had the opportunity to match it. Luongo said that it turned out to be worth more than the contract he eventually signed with the Canucks, a four-year deal worth $6.75 million.
“It was a pretty quick no. I had just got traded to Van. I just wanted to be there. I didn’t want to go to another team.”