According to a report on Montreal radio station CKAC, the Canucks and Luongo have settled on a front-end loaded 12-year contract worth $64 million with only minor details to be finalized. If correct, the cap hit would be $5.33 million.

The 30-year-old netminder has one year remaining on his current contract. He will be paid $7.5 million although his cap hit is only $6.75 million, the average of the four-year deal he signed in 2006.

— Vancouver Sun

I suppose we should be surprised that a player six months from his 31st birthday is potentially getting a 12-year extension, but how can we be at this point? We've seen these all before, from Marian Hossa to Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg and Vinny Lecavalier.

Why not a goalie? And why not Luongo? And why not until he's 52?

I'm already on record as saying that this is a loophole that should and will be closed in negotiations on the next collective bargaining agreement, but until that point, it likely makes sense for GMs to continue getting while the getting's good. My friends and family members back home in B.C. (almost all Canucks fans) bellyache once in a while about Luongo's play, but the fact is he's been one of the most consistent netminders in the NHL the past decade (I always send them this link), and on a franchise that's had as many issues in the crease as Vancouver, there are some decent reasons for inking him to this deal.

After all, any success Luongo's going to have in his career would then, likely, have to come in a Canucks uniform, and given it appears the best is yet to come, a $5.33-million cap hit is going to look incredibly reasonable well into the future.

I'd be surprised if at some point Luongo doesn't start winning Vezinas and having some postseason success, if only because his regular season feats have been so impressive for someone who has been, for the most part, stuck without much of a lineup in front of him. His dollar value will only rise as the accolades pile up. (It's worth noting that Martin Brodeur didn't win his first Vezina until age 31.)

Besides, if you're going to gamble on a goaltender, shouldn't he be the one?

(Everything I've said in the past about long-term contracts still stands of course. The risk of injury is considerable, especially at 35 and beyond, but this is likely going to be a gamble we see more and more teams continue to take. The benefit in terms of such a low cap hit over a sustained period is just too enticing for many to turn down, risks be damned.)

UPDATE The team confirmed Luongo was signing a 12-year extension on Sept. 2.