The ex-Canucks netminder additionally mentioned that if had been as much as him, he’d have gone on LTIR versus retiring.
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Roberto Luongo drew some massive guffaws Thursday morning when requested by reporters about his remark 10 years in the past about why he wasn’t traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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“Clearly my contract didn’t suck,” Luongo mentioned, referring to the now-famous line he uttered to the media Apr. 3, 2013.
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“My contract sucks,” he mentioned on the 2013 commerce deadline.
However a decade later, it was all all the way down to the second, he defined. Simply quarter-hour earlier than he’d been advised by then-GM Mike Gillis that regardless of all of the efforts and hypothesis, they hadn’t been in a position to attain a take care of the Leafs to commerce Luongo and it was all in regards to the construction of his contract, which the brand new NHL CBA had created a brand new punishment for, now often called cap recapture.
“I used to be slightly bit emotional at that very time. Didn’t actually have time to regroup. And you realize, clearly the contract didn’t suck however for sure causes it did,” Luongo mentioned Thursday. “I simply keep in mind being so emotional in that very second.”
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When the time got here in 2019 for Luongo to resolve on his future, he mentioned, as he’s mentioned earlier than, that after a month off the ice post-season he simply didn’t wish to get going once more.
Most gamers in his place have merely gone on long-term injured reserve and continued to gather a paycheque, however Luongo went for the straight retirement. There have been three years left on his deal, so he left US$3.68 million on the desk.
The larger consequence of the choice was it created a cap recapture penalty on the Canucks’ wage cap, which the NHL enforced to the letter. Canucks GM Jim Benning did attraction to the league to have the penalty waived, however there was no give and so the Canucks carried a $3 million penalty by way of 2021-22, when the contract was initially set to run out.
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“That wasn’t my name, sadly,” Luongo mentioned. “I might have cherished to have gone on LTIR and make a number of further {dollars} however it wasn’t my name.”
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