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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 2911208" data-attributes="member: 2012">Canucks qualify Luongo; Lupien confidentTSN.ca Staff6/26/2006 1:43:34 PM(tsn.ca) - The Canucks have made their first move in negotiations with new goaltender Roberto Luongo Monday, making a qualifying offer to the restricted free agent, and there is more to come according to CKNW 980 AM in Vancouver.The Canucks qualified Luongo at $3.2 million, which gives the club his rights for the 2006-07 season, but the radio station is also reporting that Luongo's agent, Gilles Lupien, will meet with his client in Montreal this week to discuss the prospects of a long term deal.Luongo, 27, played 75 games with the Florida Panthers in 2005-06, posting a record of 35-30-9 with a 2.97 GAA and a .914 save percentage. Over his five-year NHL career, Luongo has played a total of 341 games, with a record of 115-168-41, a 2.72 GAA and a .919 save percentage.Lupien, as you would expect, praised the Canucks today while taking a few pot shots at the Panthers."It was completely different," Lupien said after his initial discussion on Friday night with Nonis. "(With the Panthers) it was, 'We want five (years) and shut your mouth.'"There (in Florida) it was, 'It's five years or we're going to trade you.'"After Luongo and Lupien refused to sign a long-term pact with Florida, Panthers' GM Mike Keenan stayed true to his word and traded his star goaltender to Vancouver on Friday in a five player swap that sent Todd Bertuzzi south.Lupien said Luongo did not want to leave his family and friends in Florida, and was "scared" of getting traded. He says they wanted to sign a one-year deal with Florida to give them another season to work out a longer contract with the Panthers."We tried and worked very hard at resolving a contract situation with Roberto Luongo," Keenan told the Miami Herald-Sun on Friday after making the big trade. "As an organization, we made a decision we had to move forward and doing so satisfied a lot of the needs that we had."According to the Miami Herald, Luongo declined several four-year and five-year offers from the Panthers, the last being a four-year deal at $6.25 million per season. The Herald reported that Panthers coach Jacques Martin made a last-ditch presentation to Luongo on Friday, but the goaltender stood his ground, and the trade followed that night.It's worth noting that Luongo can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2006-07 season, and the Herald suggested Saturday that Luongo's pursuit of a one-year deal from the Panthers might be linked to that factor more than any other.Lupien's discussion with Nonis this week will test that theory, and Luongo's agent certainly seemed optimistic about talking more with the Canucks."It's only a question of numbers," he told CKNW.</blockquote>

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