For decades now, James Duthie has hosted hockey broadcasts on the TSN Network in Canada, with a wry, dry, sly sense of humor. It is a quality he shares with Roberto Luongo who, this weekend, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the male player category — and for years, conspired with Duthie to create some memorable video silliness.
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The relationship between Duthie and Luongo began through Jamie McLennan, who was playing in Florida on the same team as Luongo, but was nearing the end of his career and interested in trying his hand at TV. TSN wanted to do a story on the life of a backup goaltender. Originally, the idea was to do a serious piece. Duthie had other ideas. What if they told the story differently — imagining that the backup was jealous of the starter? What lengths might he go to, to ensure more playing time for himself?
So Duthie contacted McLennan and pitched the idea. McLennan was on board with the concept.
“But I didn’t know Roberto at all at the time,” said Duthie. “And frankly, I had some trepidation, because — and I’ve told Roberto this — my impression of him from afar was that of this aloof star goalie. I had never interviewed him, I’d never done anything with him. So, when I went down to Florida to do this piece, and it was ridiculous. We rented a dummy from a movie set to get hit by a Zamboni. We’ve milked that scene about 10 times — Jamie pretending to run Roberto over with the Zamboni. We wanted it to be as cheesy looking as possible.
“The very first scene we filmed, we only had a couple of hours to shoot it and that was the first time I ever met Roberto. And right from the first second, he was incredibly game to do it. Much to my relief, he was super keen. He loved everything about it. He was making suggestions as we went along. It went really well and I really liked the guy right away. He was the complete opposite of what I thought he was.
“I got his number and we sort of stayed in touch.”
Eventually, Florida traded Luongo to Vancouver in the Todd Bertuzzi deal (June of 2006) at which point, Luongo texted Duthie and suggested they do another bit for the network. This time, the premise was Luongo as a beat poet, writing short, pithy rhymes about everyone and everything from the Sedin twins, his fellow Hall of Famers from the class of 2022, and Dustin Byfuglien to McLennan and his dislike for shootouts. That too was well-received (and has over 218,000 views on YouTube).
Then came arguably the most memorable bit. By 2010, Canucks’ goalie prospect Cory Schneider was ready for prime time. Luongo was the well-established starter, but Schneider was pushing him hard.
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“When Schneider was battling Roberto for the No. 1 job, if you just listened to all of us in the media, it was this very tense situation — and there might be a lot of friction between the two guys,” said Duthie. “Instead, it was just the opposite.
“Roberto actually called me and said, ‘why don’t we do something about me and Schneider battling to be No. 1?’ — because, the reality is, they actually had a great relationship. In some ways, that was my favorite thing we did, because it really shattered the myth of the tension between them. We shot it in Columbus, during a day off, and there was a purpose to it. He didn’t just want to have fun with it. He wanted to let everyone know: ‘Forget whatever you believe. We’re actually good buddies. Yeah, we both want to be the No. 1 goalie, but personally, we’re great together.’
“Obviously, he’s in the Hall of Fame because he’s an incredible goalie, but of all the players of his generation, I’m not sure there were many others who really won over people the way he did, with his self-deprecating humor and through Twitter.”
Luongo is one of only three goaltenders in NHL history to appear in over 1,000 games. He is fourth all time in regular-season wins and ninth in shutouts. He shared the 2010-11 William M. Jennings Trophy with Schneider. He is the franchise wins leader for both the Canucks (252) and Panthers (230) and one of only two goaltenders in NHL history to record 200-plus regular-season wins with multiple franchises (the other was Patrick Roy with Montreal and Colorado).
Playing for Canada internationally, Luongo won gold medals at two Olympics (2010, 2014), two world championships (2003, 2004) as well as a World Cup title in 2004. Perhaps nothing illustrated his leadership qualities better than the fact that Canucks named him their team captain for two years between 2008 and 2010, a rare honor for a goalie. The last goalie to captain a team prior to Luongo was Bill Durnan with Montreal back in 1947-48.
In speaking with reporters in Florida a few weeks back about his Hall of Fame career, Luongo was asked now that he’s in management with the Panthers, an organization trying to develop a young goaltender — Spencer Knight — what advice might he pass on from his own experiences to help smooth his journey? Tellingly, Luongo’s answer wasn’t about technique, or anything relating to the mechanics of goaltending. Instead, he talked about coming to grips with the pressure involved in playing the position.
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“Sometimes, I took things too much to heart and let them linger with me too long, instead of brushing it off and just moving on,” said Luongo. “It affected me when I was on the ice and in my personal life for longer than it should have.
“I think I started getting over that once I created my Twitter account. That might sound weird but once I started making fun of myself, it kind of put everything in perspective and helped me deal with those moments. It’s not that serious. You get criticized. It’s going to happen. I always say, ‘you’re never going to have 100 percent of the people on your side.’ All these people that have negative things to say about you, that’s just part of it now. I understand that. Maybe back then I didn’t.”
I’ve decided to take my talents to a South Beach retirement home ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/BTuZIo8XT8 — Strombone (@strombone1) June 26, 2019
Both Duthie and Luongo understood that you can defuse a tense situation with humor, a lesson sometimes lost in the serious business of professional hockey. It just lets the air out of the balloon.
“I am a big fan of dumb comedy,” said Duthie. “I grew up on David Letterman. Fortunately, Roberto has the same sense of humor. I think he’s one of the great surprises of my career. He was so different from how I perceived him.
“There’s a lesson in that for me — that we don’t really know these guys. Sometimes, you judge a guy because he’s tough with the media, or bad in scrums, but we don’t really know him. Getting to know Roberto. He just had an incredible sense of humor. Obviously, the Twitter account was a massive part of that too. That was fun for me because the Twitter account was anonymous for a couple of years, but I always knew it was him. It was really fun watching that grow and grow. And then the speculation — was it him? And then the realization that yes, it was.
“The last thing we did was, when he was thinking about having a career in TV, he came in and did a weekend with us, and we shot the thing called ‘The Panel Intern’ — where now he was the understudy to Jamie, who was the star on TV, and was going to teach him everything he knew. I’m proud of those things we did — and proud that we showed another side of him.”
Luongo is now a special advisor to Panthers’ general manager Bill Zito and learning the tricks of the front-office trade. A couple of weeks back, Duthie went to Florida to shoot a Hall of Fame feature on Luongo — and wanted to try something silly once again.
“I had an idea about him being a Hall of Famer, and having a massive ego as a result,” said Duthie. “I wanted to take him around Florida and pretend he was trying to get into a place or get discounts on things because he was a Hall of Famer — and being rejected everywhere.
“Roberto still has a sense of humor, and you’ll see that in the interview that we did — he can’t stop being himself. But at the same time, he does want a future in hockey, as a GM or a president or something. So, I think for now, he’s not going to do any of the whacky pieces.
“But I do have to introduce him at the Hall and I’m not sure: Do I do the usual sort of intro we do, or do I play it straight? I’m torn, but I think I’m going to play it straight. I’m sure he’s got a couple of jokes to tell, but I’ll leave that to him. It’s his night and it has to be timeless.”
Five developments I didn’t see coming
1. Vegas and Seattle atop the Pacific Division, in terms of points percentage
A bounce-back year for Vegas was always a real possibility, if only because so many of the Golden Knights’ key players pieces who were injured last year, were healthy again for the start of the season, except primarily for goaltender Robin Lehner.
And there was a sense, from his brief cameo last year (a .914 save percentage in 19 appearances), that they would be all right with rookie Logan Thompson, carrying a heavier load. But Seattle? And especially Seattle, largely minus its starter in goal, the injured Philipp Grubauer, and forced to overplay Martin Jones.
If there was an early-season path to the top for the Kraken, it was probably through goaltending and stingier defence. Instead, Seattle’s been one of the more fun — and offensively explosive teams — to watch this year, eighth in goals-per-game average at a hefty 3.57 per contest. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky have nicely rounded out the top six, and similar to Vegas, the return to health of two players who spent a lot of time on IR last year — Jaden Schwartz and Branden Tanev — have given them far greater forward depth.
2. Mattias Macelli is atop the rookie scoring lead
As of Friday, Macelli was tied with Seattle’s Matty Beniers and Ottawa’s Shane Pinto with nine points each. I saw Macelli play an exhibition game live in September and actually looked him up then because he caught my eye. Arizona’s fourth-round pick (No. 98) in 2019, Macelli played two years in the USHL for Dubuque, two years in Finland with Ilves Tampere, and the last year, divided his time between AHL Tucson and the Coyotes, where he got into 23 NHL games (and is why he’s still Calder eligible this year).
But the truth is, I assumed that once NHL players started playing for keeps, he would be like a lot of young players — either farmed out or playing a reduced role. Instead, he’s been part of Arizona’s uncanny ability to completely surprise more talented opponents, with work ethic, goaltending and the occasional dose of skill. Arizona is three games into its record 14-game road trip and — as everybody predicted — has produced victories in all three, making them 6-6-1 for the season.
3. St. Louis last in the Central Division
The Blues stopped the bleeding Thursday night, winning the battle of the Western Conference basement against San Jose. Lots of things have gone wrong for a team that finished with the fourth-best record in the Western Conference last season, though it’s easy to focus on David Perron’s departure because Perron contributed so much to the mix in terms of scoring and leadership. But just as significant is the absence of Ville Husso who, for most of last season, was the de facto No. 1 in goal, as Jordan Binnington struggled.
4. Ottawa last in the Atlantic Division
Ottawa clearly won the summer, with prescient moves to add, among others, Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat. They subtracted, among others, the burdensome contract of goaltender Matt Murray. Sadly for Sens fans, hockey is mostly played in the fall, winter and spring. On the ice, the Sens’ losses just continue to mount — 0-6-1 in the last seven, with a 4.92 goals-against average in that discouraging stretch.
5. Calgary out of the playoff picture in the Western Conference
The Flames have been sinking fast in the West, going 0-5-2 in the past seven. Within that stretch, they failed to win a game on a much-anticipated road trip that many assumed they needed because they’d grown stale on an extended homestand to start the season.
It was a reasonable assumption too, given that the Flames were tied for the league lead with 25 road wins last season. Didn’t happen. Before getting injured, newcomer Jonathan Huberdeau was having trouble finding chemistry with center, Elias Lindholm, and the overall scoring just hasn’t been there. With Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk elsewhere, only Nazem Kadri has come in and picked up the slack (seven goals thus far though he’s cooled off too after a hot start). Calgary was always thought to be one winger short — it’s why the Flames brought in Sonny Milano on a tryout back in training camp. Milano eventually signed with Washington. Calgary’s search continues.
Sympathy for the Devils
It wasn’t so long-ago fans in New Jersey were calling for coach Lindy Ruff’s head on a platter and websites that set such odds had him at, or near, the top of their first coach-to-be fired list. But things change fast in the NHL and the Devils, on the heels of an eight-game win streak, are suddenly atop the Metropolitan Division.
The Devils thought they needed Gaudreau’s scoring to round out a team that had two up-and-comers down the middle in Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, but lacked real pop on the wing, beyond Jesper Bratt. Instead, Gaudreau signed with Columbus.
Even without him, they’ve managed to get by with a no-name, hardworking support group on the wings, a patched-together goaltending tandem and reliable defensive play from, among others, newcomer John Marino. The Devils were nobody’s choice to go anywhere this season, in part because of how far back they were just a year ago, missing the playoffs by 37 points.
This year, they’ve won 11 of the first 14 games, many with uncanny, timely scoring they received again on Thursday night, in an overtime win over Ottawa. Few will be surprised by how well Jack Hughes is playing in his fourth season (14 points in 14 games, after averaging more than a point per game last year (56 in 49). But it is Hischier’s play that’s really helped balance the top two lines (16 points in 13 games) after a career-high 60 in 70 games a year ago. Hischier was the No. 1 pick in 2017, and sometimes it really does take that long even for the bluest of blue-chip talent, to find their NHL strides.
It would be remarkable, though not unprecedented, if the Devils, a 27-win team a year ago, made the playoffs, considering how far outside of them they were a year ago. As recently as the 2016-17 season, Colorado finished with a dismal 48-point total, but then jumped all the way to 90 the next year, made the playoffs as an eighth seed and then knocked off the conference regular-season champs (and top seed) Calgary in the opening round.
But even that pales compared to what San Jose did early in their incarnation. The 1991-92 Sharks were a 24-point team. They won 11 times in what was then an 84-game regular season (and lost 71 times!). They finished 61 points out of a playoff spot. The next year, they surged to 82 points, also made it to the playoffs as an eighth seed, and also upset the No. 1 team in the conference, Detroit, in the opening round.
(Top photo of Roberto Luongo: Wilfredo Lee / AP Photo)