So was this Roberto Luongo playing the good employee, saying he'll do whatever management asks of him? Or was this Roberto Luongo laying the groundwork for his departure from the Vancouver Canucks?
"Even though I have a no-trade, it's not my decsion," Luongo said. "It's a very unique circumstance I think that we are in where we have an elite guy, a young guy who is up and coming, who is probably going to dominate the league for many years. … I'm not sure what I would do if I was GM."
Pumpin' tires … Luongo continued:
"I don't want to be one of those guys who is going to stand in the way of anything," he said. "I always want to put the team ahead of me first. I don't want to be one of those selfish guys.
"There hasn't been any decisions made. But over the course of the next little while, we'll talk with (Mike Gillis) and make a decision."
Earlier in the day — in between giving coach Alain Vigneault an endorsement and trashing the legacy of Cody Hodgson — GM Mike Gillis addressed both goaltenders, via Canucks Hockey Blog:
Gillis: "We have confidence in both of our goalies, and I know a lot of teams are envious of our situation."
Gillis on Luongo: "If you take a look at his body of work, you'll see that he's an elite-level goaltender. We've got a ton of confidence in Roberto."
Gillis on Cory Schneider: "It wasn't by accident he was played in big games. We wanted to see if he was as good as we thought. He is. The emergence of Cory as such an outstanding young goalie has changed the landscape."
Luongo is 33 and has a $5.33 million cap hit and a contract that expires in 2022. Schneider is 26 and is an RFA.
Where could Luongo go? The Vancouver Sun handicapped the field as the Florida Panthers (who could afford him), Tampa By Lightning (who can't at the moment), Toronto Maple Leafs (who'd have to kiss Mike Gillis' posterior mightily) and New Jersey Devils, because the last time Luongo replaced Brodeur he finally won something of consequence.
What do you think? Does Lou stay or go? And if go, where?