GM Mike Gillis, on negotiations with Roberto Luongo, from TSN:

“I think philosophically we’re very close and I think to get top players signed it usually does take a longer period of time,” Gillis told the station on Tuesday. “We’ve had a lot of stuff happen in the meantime. We were moving really well and then we had the draft and free-agency and some other distractions occurred. But we feel really confident that we’re all on the same page and it’s only a matter of everyone getting focussed on the final part of it to get it done. We intend to (get it done before the season). We hope to. I know Laurence (Gilman) has had some discussions with Roberto’s agent as early as yesterday. We’re getting there and we’re confident that we’ll get something done.”

Luongo, 30 is entering the final year of a four-year, $27 million contract.