Twenty-Five Years Ago, Islanders Threw Newcomer Luongo 'To The Wolves'

In 2000, Hockey-Hall-of-Famer Roberto Luongo was an NHL rookie with the Islanders. And in this story from THN's archive, Luongo's progress was put under the spotlight.

In the 1999-2000 season, Hockey-Hall-of-Famer Roberto Luongo was enjoying his first taste of NHL action as a member of the New York Islanders. And in this feature story from THN's Jan. 14, 2000 edition (Vol. 53, Issue 18), columnist Jay Greenberg focused on Luongo's initial highs and lows as a goaltender in hockey's top league:

By Jay Greenberg

The New York Islanders have been charged with breaking promises to rebuild a winner and entering into no sincere attempts to negotiate for a new arena. They had an owner who committed fraud, have assaulted their fans’ sensibilities and committed battery of the franchise’s proud history.

They have faced more counts of abandonment than former Ottawa Senator GMs Pierre Gauthier and Rick Dudley, committed conspiracies to dump salaries, once even pondered interstate flight to avoid paying the rent.

But the latest Islander outrage is even more unspeakable than the franchise, five years removed from the playoffs, has become as a topic for talk radio in a nine-team market. In late December, the organization was arraigned for endangering the welfare of a child.

In their latest salary dump, the Islanders traded goaltender Felix Potvin to the Vancouver Canucks. The wolf, at the door for years, has been let it in to eat at 20-year-old Roberto Luongo’s flesh, after finishing with the bare bones stacked in front of him.

“I’m scared to death,” said Islanders’ GM Mike Milbury. “But Roberto’s not and I guess that’s what counts. His most dominating characteristic is his composure. Really, nothing seems to faze him.

“Somebody asked him what it was like in the American League and he said ‘Aw, there’s not much there.’ Sure, I’m worried we are asking too much, too soon. But I think he needs a challenge.”

Everybody can use a challenge. But kids at important stages of their development don’t need an ordeal. The Islanders, whose go-to guy is Brad Isbister, manage just more than two goals per game, have whole periods where they can’t get over the opposition’s blueline and stretches where they don’t seem to have any clue behind their own. They are barely exceeding subterranean expectations.

That said, so far they have bounced back from every non-competitive game by showing they care, which is more than their owners do. Veterans, of which the Islanders have precious few left, are more likely to become disillusioned by the hopelessness of the situation than the kids, who, at this stage of their careers, would happily take their pay in fish sticks.

As the fourth player taken in the 1997 entry draft, the highest goaltending selection ever, Luongo isn't of a mind he’s being rushed, more like he’s overdue.

“It’s logical to think this is too soon for me,” he said. “In the past, a lot of goalies got burned being brought up young. But I am not the same person they are.

“I can handle the pressure. As long as I don’t get discouraged, come to practice to work hard, I don’t see how I am going to have a problem. I am ready for this. I have been waiting for it my whole life. I’ll work as hard as I can at my dream.”

At 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, the kid fills much more of the net than Islander fans do seats. He has a glove hand faster than John Spano’s to endorse a loan check. Luongo stoned the Boston Bruins at FleetCenter in a memorable debut and has since shut out the Bruins and beaten the New Jersey Devils. He may not know what is best for him in the long run, but perhaps ignorance is bliss.

The franchise has fallen off the map, so this really is a low-pressure deal. Goalie Kevin Weekes, who came over from the Canucks in the Potvin deal with two forwards who can play, Bill Muckalt and Dave Scatchard, will get close to half of the starts.

So it is not as if Luongo faces the schedule alone, or when left to his own devices, doesn’t already know a few tricks to get him through.

“The first time I saw him in training camp two years ago, I said, ‘Wow!’” said Islander right winger Gino Odjick. “Here was an 18-year-old kid turning his pad slightly so the rebound goes to the comer. He has good fundamentals, backs them up with great reflexes and never gives up. He’ll throw his stick or glove across and most times the puck hits them.”

Asked how he handles a bad goal, Luongo shrugged.

“You can’t do anything about those,” he said. “You can only make it worse if you dwell on them.”

In late December, the Pittsburgh Penguins broke a scoreless tie with three good goals in less than five minutes in the third period. Luongo still was stopping breakaways to the end, trying to keep his team in a game it was going to win maybe one out of a million, which is what the scouts call a goaltending prospect like him.

We’re the first to shake our heads at how NHL teams eat their young, but the Islanders don’t have much to put on the table. So if the situation isn’t ideal, well, Luongo still looks like the real deal.

And if the Islanders don’t kill him first, inevitably they will make him stronger.