With Cory Schneider signing a three-year contract last week to stay with the Vancouver Canucks and inherit the starting goaltender's job from the out-of-favor Roberto Luongo, it's not exactly a state secret that the Vancouver Canucks and general manager Mike Gillis are in the process of trying to trade their two-time All-Star netminder.
It's also not a surprise that Luongo supports the move, as he discussed on a Vancouver radio show on Friday.
"I really think it's time to move on," Luongo told host Jeff O'Neil. "I don't think...either I demanded a trade or Mike [Gillis] suggested a trade. It was a mutual understanding that it was time for Cory to take over."
While Schneider's performance during the 2011-12 season made that clear - particularly in the playoffs, where he posted a .960 save percentage in three games while Luongo played his way out of the crease with an .891 save percentage and a 3.59 goals-against average - it probably wasn't what Luongo had in mind when he signed a 12-year contract worth $64 million in the summer of 2010. Now, just two years into that deal, he looks to be on his way out of town, and while he wasn't especially interested in discussing specific destinations, he was remarkably cool about the possibility of being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks.
"I think there's a lot of cities that are great to play in, and Chicago's definitely one of them. But you have to realize that it works both ways. There's not only me involved in this decision. It's also a question if the Blackhawks would be interested, if the team would be interested in trading me there and if I wanted to go there."
While Luongo certainly has a testy history with fans in the Windy City - the star netminder has been a favorite target of fan abuse during the three playoff series between the teams in the last four years - the Blackhawks do make sense as a destination. There's no question that Chicago needs help in the crease. Corey Crawford had the best save percentage on the team at .903, and while he hasn't been rock-solid in the playoffs in his last couple of forays in Vancouver, with Schneider nipping at his heels for the No. 1 goaltending job before finally seizing it, the idea of Luongo playing behind a lineup led by the likes of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, and Duncan Keith has a certain appeal to it.
Of course, as Luongo noted, there are other considerations, including Chicago's willingness to trade for him and Vancouver's willingness to send him there. Chicago general manager Stan Bowman would certainly be interested in improving his team's goaltending situation - the Blackhawks were one of the teams interested in Martin Brodeur before the four-time Vezina winner re-signed with the Devils - but it's uncertain whom Vancouver would want in return, and whether the Blackhawks would be willing to meet the Canucks' price.
