FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Sergei Bobrovsky had Thursday off, so the Florida Panthers called an old friend to help guard their nets in practice.
Backup Anthony Stolarz was on one side of the ice at the team's new training facility, and Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo was on the other.
"It's fun, right? The players were throwing muffins at him at first, then they wanted to score on him," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "You can still see the talent there. The way he reads the play, he has watched so much hockey as a goaltender and has probably watched 1,000 goalies since he started his new position. He just reads the play so fast. He still gets it done."
Luongo, who retired after the 2018-19 season, is now a special adviser to general manager Bill Zito and oversees the team's Goaltending Excellence Department alongside goaltending consultant Francois Allaire.
Although Luongo, now 44, said he never wanted to put the pads on again, he changed his tune when asked if he would be a celebrity goaltender at the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills in Sunrise, Florida, in February.
"They asked me if I was interested, and I don't know why, but I said yes," Luongo said at the time. "… After four years off, I feel a lot better than I thought I would."
Luongo has been spotted on the ice a few times wearing custom pads to commemorate the All-Star Game, which pays homage to his career.
Luongo played 572 of his 1,044 games with the Panthers over the course of his 19-season NHL career, and the team retired his No. 1 on March 7, 2020. Luongo also played 448 games with the Vancouver Canucks, who put him in their Ring of Honor earlier this month, and played his first 24 NHL games with the New York Islanders.
He ranks fourth in NHL history in wins (489), second in games played among goalies (1,044), and ninth in shutouts (77). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022.
"I think I scored on him at one point, but he still has it. He looked great out there," Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "He has not missed a beat. It was fun having a legend on the ice out there. When you shoot on him, you see how well he reads the game. That is something he probably will never lose."
The custome pads that Luongo has been spooted in have blue-and-green stripes at the top with a hockey stick, as well as a 'C' to recognize his unofficial captaincy during his time with the Canucks.
The bottom of the pads are blue, red, and gold with palm trees for his time with the Panthers.
Luongo's blocker has blue-and-orange stripes to commemorate being selected by the Islanders with the No. 4 pick in the 1997 NHL Draft. The Islanders traded Luongo to the Panthers in 2000.
The pads also reference his two Olympic gold medals with Canada (2010 Vancouver, 2014 Sochi) and include his final NHL stat line.
Since Luongo uses them whenever he hits the ice to get some work in, Thursday was a good day to put them back on.
"He looked pretty good," Maurice said. "If you walked in off the street and had no idea who was in net, you would say that's an NHL goalie. The beard has a little more gray in it, but he looked pretty good."
Following the Panthers 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, Luongo was in goal for a charity game at Amerant Bank Arena.
By all accounts, he looked sharp then as well.
"I mean, it was pretty cool," Stolarz said. "Obviously, he is still a big part of the organization, but it was cool to see him out there playing, and those pads are pretty cool. It was nice just chatting with him. He's still got it. He made some great saves out there."
