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Florida Panthers will retire Roberto Luongo’s jersey

The Florida Panthers announced today that they will retire former goaltender Roberto Luongo’s number 1 jersey on Saturday, March 7, 2020 when the club hosts the Montreal Canadiens at BB&T Center.

Luongo will become the first Florida Panthers player in the history of the franchise to have his jersey number retired.

The Panthers originally acquired Luongo from the New York Islanders on June 24, 2000. As a rookie with Florida (2000-01), Luongo appeared in 47 games and finished the season with a .920 save percentage and five shutouts, setting franchise records for a rookie netminder. Over his first five seasons with the Panthers he played the third-most games among goaltenders in the NHL (317), tied for third-most shutouts (26), was a finalist for the 2003-04 Vezina Trophy, played in the 2004 NHL All-Star Game and set all Panthers major franchise goaltending records. Traded to the Vancouver Canucks on June 23, 2006, the Panthers reacquired Luongo on March 4, 2014. In his first game back in a Panthers sweater, on March 7, 2014, Luongo posted a shutout victory against the Buffalo Sabres on home ice.

Luongo played 11 seasons with the Panthers, owning the club’s franchise records for games played by a goaltender (572), wins (230), shutouts (38), saves (16,068) assists/points (13), single-season games played by a goaltender (75, 2005-06), single-season wins (35, 2005-06, 2015-16), single-season saves (2,303) and single-season shutouts (tied-7, 2003-04). His 572 games played in a Panthers uniform marks the fourth-most in franchise history by any player. Through his career with the Panthers, Luongo represented the club at the NHL All-Star Game three times (2004, 2015, 2016).

The upcoming honor is much deserved. Kudos to the Panthers organization for getting this taken care in fast fashion.

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