Canadian Olympic gold medalist Roberto Luongo of Montreal, Quebec has retired from men’s hockey at age 40. Luongo, who played 19 National Hockey League seasons with the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks as a goaltender, won a gold medal for Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Also while representing Team Canada on the international stage, Luongo won a gold medal for Canada at the 2003 International Ice Hockey Federation World Men’s Hockey Championship in Finland, the 2004 IIHF World Hockey Championship in the Czech Republic and the 2004 World Cup in Toronto, Ontario. He also won a silver medal at the 1999 World Junior Men’s Hockey Championship in Winnipeg, Manitoba and the 2005 World Men’s Hockey Championship in Austria.
A five-time NHL all-star, Luongo won the 2011 William M. Jennings Trophy. He helped the Canucks give up a NHL least 185 goals that season. Also in 2010-11, Luongo led the NHL with 38 wins and had a stingy goals against average of 2.11. Luongo also led the NHL with 2475 saves while with the Panthers in 2003-04 and the NHL with 2488 saves while with the Panthers in 2005-06.
It is expected the Panthers will be very active in looking for a goaltender in free agency. Among the elite free agent goaltenders on the market are Sergei Bobrovsky, Petr Mrazek and Robin Lehner.
