Roberto Luongo talks to reporters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Tuesday. The Vancouver Canucks traded their star goalie back to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, nearly eight years after he arrived on Canada's West Coast from the Sunshine State. Photograph by: Twitter @vancanucks , .

PHOENIX — Nearly eight years after he arrived in Vancouver, goalie Roberto Luongo made a U-turn home Tuesday and the trade that sent him back to the Florida Panthers was nearly as unexpected as the one that brought him to the Canucks in 2006.

And as surely as former general manager Dave Nonis’s acquisition of Luongo was the greatest catalyst in the Canucks' rise to excellence in the National Hockey League, current GM Mike Gillis’s trade on Tuesday is proof the team is at the end of its cycle.

With the NHL trading deadline at noon Wednesday (Pacific time), Gillis still has plenty of pieces in play. The most important and valuable is centre Ryan Kesler, believed to be pursued by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers among other teams.

Any trade Gillis makes will probably make the Canucks younger and perhaps deeper in the long run.

But the Canucks, 1-8-1 in 10 games before facing the Phoenix Coyotes Tuesday evening, look likely to miss the Stanley Cup tournament for the first time since 2008.

The Canucks’ trades involving Luongo represent the book ends on the most successful period in franchise history — a seven-year run that included six division titles, two Presidents' Trophies as the NHL's regular-season champion and a 2011 appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.

“This organization brought my game to another level,” Luongo, 34, said Tuesday, and he had the same effect on the Canucks.

—————

VIEW MORE PHOTOS HERE, or if you're using a mobile app, tap the story image and swipe.

—————

He was traded to Florida for goalie prospect Jacob Markstrom and centre Shawn Mattias. But a key benefit for the Canucks is that they've shed the final eight years of Luongo's 12-year, $64-million US contract.

He returns to the Panthers, who under previous management and ownership dealt him to Vancouver in June 2006 for a package of players that included Todd Bertuzzi. Luongo is going home. He lives in the Miami area in the off-season and his wife, Gina, is from there.

But Tuesday's trade still “stunned” him, and ended a goaltending Canucks soap opera that began 23 months ago when Luongo lost his starting job to Cory Schneider.

“There was a lot of stuff that happened … but I've got nothing but good things to say towards the fans who were really supportive, especially towards the end,” Luongo told reporters as he left the Canucks' hotel here. “It did not go unnoticed, for sure. All in all, it was a great run.”

So he bears no hard feelings towards Gillis and the Canucks?

“No, it's tough for everybody,” Luongo said. “Everybody involved in this process had some tough decisions to make. I can understand that. Management had some tough choices to make and when they were made, I tried to handle them the best way I could and move forward.”

After the Canucks and Luongo agreed two years ago that he should be traded, Gillis overvalued his asset and underestimated how much the goalie's huge contract would impede a deal. Luongo's contract includes a no-trade clause, and the goalie flexed his legal rights by insisting Gillis deal with the Panthers.