from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

Roberto Luongo is on his farewell tour. He just doesn’t know it yet.

Right now, the Florida Panthers goalie said he plans on fulfilling all 12 years of a $64 million contract that won’t expire until 2022. By then, Luongo would be 43 years old. But his age isn’t the biggest challenge in keeping him on the ice.

Rather, it’s the money.

It’s easy to drag your beat-up body to the rink when you’re the eighth highest-paid goalie in the NHL, as Luongo was last year. It becomes slightly more difficult when your salary is cut in half, as it was for him this season. But the real test will come next year when he’s making just $1.618 million — or in the final two years of his deal, when he bottoms out at $1 million per season.

Chances are that he will be retired before then.

Frankly, it’s a bit surprising that he hasn’t already developed the kind of career-ending injury that coincidentally forced Marian Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg out of the game just as their paycheques dried up.

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