Luongo Extends

The Canucks announced on Wednesday that they have signed their franchise goaltender, Roberto Luongo, to a new 12-year contract extension, which will see him play in Vancouver through the 2021/'22 season. The deal is reportedly worth $64 million over the duration of the contract, which equates to an annual cap hit of $5.333 million per season.

The deal had been in the works for the better part of the summer and there was the threat of Luongo testing free agency next summer, when he was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent.

In 2009, Luongo was slowed down by a groin injury, which kept him out of the line-up for 24 games, but that didn't keep him from still having a pretty good season in the crease for the Canucks. Luongo finished the season with 33 wins, 9 shutouts and an assist for 85 pool points, ranking him 17th in the league among all players, 6th among all goalies.

Since arriving in Vancouver, Luongo has enjoyed a lot of success in the regular season, which included a 47-win season in his first year with the Canucks.

Now, this signing will not affect the salary cap hit for the coming season, as he'll still be sitting with his current $6.75 million hit, but looking forward, his long-term deal will be much more beneficial to the Canucks cap situation, helping the team build around him and the Sedin twins. An early calculation of the team signed on for next season shows a cap hit of $42.7 million for 13 players, including Luongo, the Sedin twins and Cody Hodgson.

The long-term superstar deals that are front-loaded are becoming much more frequent these days in the NHL. Luongo joins a list of players including Alex Ovechkin, Henrik Zetterberg, Marian Hossa, Rick DiPietro, Mike Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and Johan Franzen, who all have deals that have more than 10 seasons left on it. When the deals are front-loaded, it definitely benefits both the player (who gets the bulk of his money right away) and the team (who gets a lessened cap hit throughout). Teams will certainly get a chance to build around these players with more money underneath the cap ceiling available, which has to also be quite appealing to both parties as well. This should be considered a great signing for the Canucks for the long-term.