Playing Style
Luongo plays in the butterfly style of goaltending, dropping to his knees with his skates pointing outwards and his pads meeting in the middle in order to cover the bottom portion of the net. Due to the style of play, groin injuries are common for butterfly goalies. Luongo suffered one during the 2008–09 season and missed 24 games.
An athletic goaltender, Luongo is known for having quick reflexes, particularly with his glove. One of Luongo's early goaltending coaches, François Allaire, has remembered Luongo to have had the "best catching glove ever seen in a kid" when he first came to his goaltending school in Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé, Québec, at the age of 14. Allaire is known to be a strong proponent of the butterfly style. At 6 feet and 3 inches, Luongo is able to cover a lot of net with his size. Observers also note the strong concentration, competitiveness and mental aspects of his game. On the other hand, his puck-handling skills have been described as a weakness.
His style began to be directed during his midget years with Allaire and Montreal-Bourassa goaltending coach Mario Baril. Luongo sent tapes of his play to Allaire during his rookie season in the QMJHL and his former goaltending coach advised him to be more aggressive and come out of the net more to cut off angles and challenge shooters. Later in his NHL career, the Canucks hired a new goaltending coach, Roland Melanson, prior to the 2010–11 season. Working with Melanson, Luongo began playing deeper in his crease against Allaire's original advice, allowing him to maintain positioning for rebounds. The following season, Melanson further tweaked Luongo's style, encouraging him to extend and elevate his glove after his hand's usual low positioning was interpreted to have become a weakness.
Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault has said that Luongo plays best with more playing time over the length of the season. Throughout his career, he has garnered lots of playing time, including four consecutive 70-game seasons from 2003–04 to 2007–08 between the Florida Panthers and Canucks. He has been known to suffer from slow starts to the season, usually in the first month of October. In his first three Octobers with the Canucks, Luongo posted a combined 10–13–0 record and a .899 save percentage – numbers that are well below his career pace.{{#tag:ref|In October 2010, he allowed 20 goals over 7 games (2 wins and 4 losses). The following year, he opened the season with a 3.45 GAA and .868 save percentage over seven games.
Luongo is also known for his leadership qualities. He received the Mark Messier Leadership Award in his first season with the Canucks for the month of March 2007. Prior to his third season with Vancouver, he was named Markus Näslund's successor as team captain and the first goaltender to be named a captain in 59 years. Teammate Mattias Öhlund, who served as alternate captain to Luongo for one season, described him as a vocal leader, while Luongo has also identified that quality in himself. General manager Mike Gillis described his commitment level as "unprecedented", adding that "he'd be a great example for our younger guys", at the time of the captaincy announcement. He served in that capacity for two seasons before stepping down prior to the 2010–11 season.
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