The Panthers and Canucks swapped Bertuzzi and Luongo tonight. Way to go Ken Holland.

Considering Bertuzzi may never be the same player he was before his cheap shot on Moore, I would say the Canucks just stole Luongo. Although I a not a hockey expert, I think Pavel D for a top 5 Goalie would have been more than worth it. Ken Holland is not the GM people give him the credit for, he does nothing that is bold or risky.

BTW, Luongo can refuse to negotiate a new deal and become UFA next year.
And I think Holland didn't go hard after him because of money anyway. I don't think we could afford Nick and Luongo under the cap. So doing that deal would have lost us Nick for sure. I forgot the numbers, but even if we sign Nick to a reasonable amount (7 mil), we'll have less than 10 mil to sign 11 more players, including a new #1 goalie. I'll check the exact numbers, but Luongo has to be making at least 5 mil right now, which is why Florida traded him. Datsyuk made 2-3 mil, so that would leave us 7-8 mil for 11 players. And that's not including Shanny and Stevie if they are back.

I think without a cap Holland would have done it in a heartbeat.