Former Islanders Okposo, Luongo On The Brink Of Hoisting First Stanley Cup
With the Florida Panthers on the verge of sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals, two former New York Islanders are close to living out their childhood dream.
Kyle Okposo, a fan favorite over his nine years on Long Island, joined the Panthers at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline after an eight-year stint in Buffalo, where they never made the playoffs.
At age 36, Okposo didn’t know how much longer he had left in his career and wanted s potential final shot at winning it all.
Although he has not collected a point in these playoffs, he’s been a tremendous leader for a team that lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in last year’s Cup Final.
For what Okposo has gone through in his career, from playing with organizations during the roughest of times to a concussion and medication reaction that landed him in the ICU to contemplating retirement, him winning the Cup would be inspiring.
While Carter Verhaeghe is also a former Islander, he never played a game with them, so we aren’t including him in this list.
You can do as you want.
The other former Islanders player who can hoist the Cup on Saturday night is Roberto Luongo.
The former Islanders netminder and 2022 Hall of Fame inductee retired from the NHL following the 2018-19 season, playing the better part of his final six seasons with Florida, his second stint with the club.
He was named Special Advisor to the General Manager in November of 2019 when Dale Tallon was running the club before Bill Zito took over in 2020.
Luongo also oversees the Panthers’ goaltending department alongside Francois Allaire, the brother of Rangers director of goaltending Benoit Allaire.
Drafted fourth overall in 1997 by the Islanders, Luongo played just one season in Blue and Orange, suiting up for 24 games in 1999-2000 and posting a 3.25 GAA with a .904 SV%.
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Then, at the 2000 NHL Draft, with the Islanders holding the first pick, Islanders general manager Mike Milbury traded Luongo and Olli Jokinen to the Panthers in exchange for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.
With the first pick, New York drafted goalie Rick DiPietro, and we all know how that panned out in the long term, with injuries destroying a once-promising career.
Luongo played six seasons in Florida before being dealt to the Vancouver Canucks in June of 2006.
He came close to winning the Cup with Vancouver in 2011, but they fell in seven games to former Islander Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins.
Then, he was dealt back to the Panthers before the 2014 NHL Trade Deadline, with forward prospect Steven Anthony for forward Shawn Matthis and goalie Jacob Markstrom.
While Luongo never hoisted Lord Stanley during his 19-year career, he has the chance on Saturday to finally do so.