2010 NHL Playoffs: When Will the Canucks' Roberto Luongo Fiasco Be Addressed?

Usually when a team is ousted from the playoffs, time and time again with a solid lineup, someone has to take the fall.

In the case of the Vancouver Canucks, it will likely be head coach Alain Vigneault. Because after all, Roberto Luongo is the best goaltender in the league.

Wait a minute.

When the team in question takes a three-game slide to the brink of elimination and gives up 16 goals over that period, you’ve got a problem—you’re not getting saves.

So how long is it that the Canucks keep turning a blind eye to Luongo? His play has dug them into a hole that will be extremely tough to climb out of. And nobody needs a loser.

I’m really not trying to flame Luongo. In fact, I believe he is a competent goalie and definitely a starter in the NHL, but it’s time for him to move on if the Canucks are indeed finished in the next game or two.

"But he won gold for Canada."

Yes, and I thank him every night before I go to sleep. That is, right after I thank Sidney Crosby and the rest of the team.

Luongo played solid hockey and got the job done for Canada in February and nobody can take that away from him. He’s a gold medal winner and it’s as simple as that. But you and I both know that if the goalies had been switched for the gold medal game, Canada would have cruised to a romp of the Americans. The entire game was spent at their end of the ice.

Luongo finished the task at hand, but he by no means stole anything from the Americans. When you stack him up against Ryan Miller, Tuukka Rask, Ilya Bryzgalov, or many other top-tier goalies, he’s simply outmatched. Finishing 17th and 19th in save percentage and goals-against average respectively over the regular season, doesn’t sound too elite to me.

Even with Bryzgalov and Miller ousted in the first round, Luongo is arguably the worst goalie in the playoffs right now, with only Boucher and Howard as contenders for his crown.

With Cory Schneider as the consensus top goaltender not playing in the NHL right now, the Canucks have to at least entertain the idea of letting Luongo go and trying something new.

I actually like the Blackhawks more and want them to take this series. However, I like to observe the entire league, as I am a hockey fan. And I just can’t see how the Luongo fiasco can go on any longer.

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Ryan Fancey can be reached at [e-mail].