A Legend's AHL Cameo

The man to the left may not look familiar dressed in his Lowell Lock Monsters uniform and Heaton pads, but he ended up being one of the best goaltenders of the modern era. The fourth-overall selection of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft was a bit of a surprise pick for the New York Islanders, but they added the fifth-overall pick of Eric Brewer moments later as it seemed like the Islanders were rebuilding from the goal outward. We'd quickly find out that general manager and head coach Mike Milbury had no idea what he was doing, but Roberto Luongo, pictured above, wouldn't be in New York Islanders or Lowell Lock Monsters colours for long thanks to Milbury selecting Rick DiPietro with the first-overall selection in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Luongo and Olli Jokinen would be traded to Florida for Mark Parrish on June 24, 2000 to make room for DiPietro.

Before that trade happened, though, Luongo was playing for the Lowell Lock Monsters to begin the 1999-00 season, his first as a professional. Seen above, Luongo came into Lowell as a rookie where he looked good despite Lowell not being a very strong AHL club. That prompted the Islanders to recall him from Lowell for his first start on November 28, 1999 at Boston where he backstopped the Islanders to a 2-1 victory! Luongo stopped 43 of 44 shots that night for his first NHL win in his first NHL game. This Luongo kid looked pretty good!

What a lot of people forget is that Luongo's emergence as an NHL goaltender forced the Islanders to trade another goaltender. Luongo had compiled a 2-3-1 record in three weeks with wins over Boston and New Jersey, and had posted a respectable 2.17 GAA in the five starts before the New Jersey game. In fact, Luongo wasn't supposed to start that New Jersey game for the Islanders. Who was?

If you didn't click on the image above to read the story, Felix Potvin was supposed to start for the Islanders before being dealt to the Vancouver Canucks on Decmeber 19, 1999 for Kevin Weekes, Bill Muckalt, and Dave Scatchard. By moving the high-priced Potvin, Milbury saved some cash while giving the crease to his blue-chip netminder as the Islanders looked to the future led by Luongo.

The ironic part is that Weekes was acquired by Vancouver in the Pavel Bure trade that saw him, Dave Gagner, Ed Jovanovski, Mike Brown and conditional draft pick move from Florida to the west coast for Bure, Bret Hedican, Brad Ference and conditional draft pick on January 17, 1999. He'd finish the season in Vancouver before the trade to the Islanders 11 months and two days later, but Weekes would be traded six months later on June 24, 2000 to Tampa Bay.

Did you note that last date? It's been mentioned before.

If that date feels familiar, Luongo was traded from the Islanders to the Florida Panthers on that day as both Islanders netminders ended up in the state of Florida on the day that Rick DiPietro was drafted. To add another few strands to the web, Luongo would be teammates with Pavel Bure who was involved in the first Weekes trade from Florida to Vancouver. And if you're still drawing lines, the Islanders, Canucks, and Panthers are the three teams that Roberto Luongo would play for in his career! How weird is that history?

In any case, Luongo would play with the Islanders from November to the end of February before he was sent back to Lowell. He did help the Lock Monsters earn a playoff berth in his two stints with Lowell that season as they claimed third-place in the Atlantic Division where they'd face the Saint John Flames in the opening best-of-five round. They'd sweep the Flames before falling to Providence in a sweep as Luongo's only playoff appearances in the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs. He was 3-3 in six games that postseason as a rookie netminder.

I couldn't find any photo evidence of him playing with the Louisville Panthers in 2000-01 following the trade to Florida, but HockeyDB.com has him playing three games that season as the only other AHL action in his career. Adding those three games in, Luongo's AHL record stands at 11-14-4 over 29 regular-season games with a 2.97 GAA and a .909 save percentage. Those aren't the numbers we normally associate with NHL legends, but we have to remember that this long before Roberto Luongo was the reliable "Booby Lu" as we got used to seeing.

For the jersey nerds out there like me, check out the font used on the Lock Monsters jerseys from that 1999-00 season with Roberto Luongo in net. Was it an affiliation thing with the crazy fonts?

The larger letters at the start and the end of the name is a weird-but-unique, feature, the serif on the "O" makes Luongo's name look foreign, and that angled bottom to the number is unlike any other AHL team's numbers in that era. When you consider the Fisherman jerseys had that wavy font, it seems like the Islanders and its AHL affiliate just wanted to make equipment managers furious!

There is Roberto Luongo's short AHL career before he put together a Hall-of-Fame NHL career. It wasn't as impressive as any of his NHL seasons, but he did win a playoff series and he turned 35 AHL games in total into a career that spanned 1168 NHL games in the regular season and the playoffs. Not bad for a guy who wore one of the weirdest fonts seen on a jersey as a Lowell Lock Monster!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!