In a move which is bound to further upset those within the NHL unhappy with players receiving lengthy contracts, the Vancouver Canucks today announced the re-signing of goaltender Roberto Luongo to a twelve-year contract extension. 

No official word yet on the dollar amount of the contract but according to TSN and RDS sportsites it's believed wort $64 million.

Broken down over twelve years that becomes a cap hit of $5.333 million per season, starting in 2010-11. Luongo is currently on the final year of a contract paying him $7.5 million for this season but is worth a cap hit of $6.75 million.

If the deal should be heavily front-loaded (like those of Detroit's Johan Franzen, Chicago's Marian Hossa and Philadelphia's Chris Pronger) it'll only further infuriate the critics of such contracts, and will likely be a contentious issue during the next round of CBA talks between the league and the NHLPA. 

Those who are howling in protest however should've seen this coming. There was nothing in the current CBA, which was trumpeted by the league and many owners as the salvation of NHL teams, preventing teams from signing players to contracts of this length, other than age stipulations and if a player could realistically complete that contract, injuries aside of course.

This once again highlights there's no such thing as a "loophole-proof" CBA. A savvy general manager and his staff are capable of finding and exploiting them. 

The Canucks didn't start this trend but one really cannot fault them for following the example of other teams. 

It was rumored the Luongo camp was seeking over $8 million per season, which would've made him the highest-paid netminder in the league. Odds are this deal is front-loaded, and it wouldn't be surprising if Luongo starts pulling in $10 million per season in the first years of the deal. 

For the Canucks it's a move that had to be made. Luongo is one of the top goaltenders in the NHL and if they still harbor dreams of winning the Stanley Cup those dreams stand a better chance of realization with Luongo between the pipes.

It speaks volumes for Luongo's opinion of the Canucks that he believes the club can be winner by committing to them for what will be the remainder of his career.  

It's another impressive off-season move by Canucks general manager Mike Gillis.

He took a lot of heat last summer when he replaced Dave Nonis but he's wasted no time putting his stamp on the Canucks, re-signing key players like Luongo and the Sedins to long-term contracts, bringing in affordable short term veterans in Pavol Demitra, Mathieu Schneider, and for a brief period Mats Sundin, and bolstering his blueline depth by trading for Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich.

It's Luongo and the Sedins however which are the significant moves, and with those franchise players in place for the long term, Gillis can focus not only on retaining up-and-coming talent but also in attracting quality veteran players.