Goalie deserves a better exit from Vancouver Canucks

Roberto Luongo has apparently asked out at Vancouver, and the team, with young Cory Schneider ready, seem happy to let him go for the right price.

Roberto Luongo has apparently asked out in Vancouver and Canucks management seems more than happy to let him skate away.
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The Roberto Luongo trade watch has begun, with an odd plot twist of an elite team looking to deal away a proven goalie.

It has become an inglorious process for the Vancouver Canucks net-minder. He does not deserve such a disrespectful exit, considering his only crime was a failure to win Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final a year ago and deliver a long-awaited cup to Vancouver.

He has 10 years remaining on a 12-year, US$64 million (Dh235m) contract.

He reportedly asked to be traded after the Canucks were eliminated in the first round of the play-offs by Los Angeles, as Alain Vigneault, the coach, had turned to the rookie Cory Schneider midway through the series against the Kings. So when the Canucks re-signed Vigneault to a contract extension, it seemed to signal that Luongo's time in Vancouver was coming to an end.

It didn't help matters when Vigneault went on the radio and stated that Luongo had asked to be traded. Mike Gillis, the Canucks general manager, quickly went into damage control, saying the coach "mis-spoke", but there are some fires that you just cannot put out.

Steve Yzerman, the Tampa Bay general manager, fanned the flames when he said the Lightning was looking for a veteran goalie, but that they would not mortgage their future to acquire one. Yzerman's statements were interpreted as a negotiating ploy, an attempt to lower the asking price on Luongo.

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