Luongo > Schneider

So, for my first actual Canucks post, I thought that I would weigh in on what my opinion is on the whole "Luongo or Schneider" debate. Hint: Dan Cloutier is not the goalie I'd choose. Sorry Dan.

So first off, let's start with Luongo. Is there really any person that a Canucks fan talks about more? When they're not ripping on AV for barely playing Cody Hodgson, they're either praising Luongo or blaming the team's downfall (usually just a loss) on him. He has his share of lovers and haters, but most Canucks fans are undecided. On one hand, he was a Vezina nominee last year. On the other hand, Luongo did get pulled twice in the Stanley Cup Finals and (aside from his two shutouts) didn't play very well. Granted, the team in front of him played just as poorly, but, like a sponge, Luongo soaked up all the blame. Considering Luongo was a "god" when he came to Vancouver, I find it really hard to believe how people can lose confidence in him with one bad goal. Luongo is always among the top goalies in the NHL stats-wise, and usually gives his team a chance to win on every night he plays; despite "popular" opinion.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Luongo is an elite goalie. Any who disagree are free to watch this and tell me otherwise:

But, despite Luongo's elite goaltending, people want to throw him under the bus because of one or two bad games; or even a game which he played well in, but let a bad goal in. I understand that everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but if you hate Luongo for his small mistakes, you probably don't watch very many Canucks games; or at least many that Luongo starts. He is stellar for a majority of all his games, and can keep the Canucks in a game when they're flopping. Case and Point: 3rd period of San Jose on Wednesday. San Jose got 16 shots compared to Vancouver's 4. The score for that period was 0-0.

Schneider is a great goalie as well, and has many elements of Luongo's style in his game. He can also keep the Canucks in games, and make a great save when the team needs one. However, Schneider simply isn't Luongo. He has yet to make more than 25 appearances in a single season, and he also lets in the occasional "bad goal". Luongo has been nominated for the Vezina trophy on 3 occasions, been a finalist for the Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award) twice, and a finalist for the Hart Trophy once. His play hasn't dropped off either, he has a GAA of 1.87 and a Save Percentage of .934 this last December.

I love Schneider and I think he will be an elite goalie in the NHL one day, but the Canucks have to stick with Roberto Luongo. He's on a roll right now and hopefully that roll continues onward throughout the New Year. Besides, why should we even complain about goaltending? We have an elite goalie as a starter, and if he does have a bad game here and there, we have a backup (who would be a starter on almost any other team) who can step in and give the boys a damn good chance to win. Don't worry Canucks fans, even when it looks grim, the Luongo we all know and love will always be there; we can take a few bad performances because we know that a vast majority of his games will be stellar efforts.