“It’s tough to not know what your future is going to be with your family and everything. There were a couple of stressful moments, but we’re still here and everything’s good.

“[The Panthers] makes sense for myself, for my career and my family,” added Luongo, who still has 10 years at $5.33 million per remaining on his deal. “That being said. There’s obvious other options as well. This is a preferred location for obvious reasons but I’m not shutting the door on other possibilities if it comes up.”

Luongo has also been linked to the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs. Current Panthers goalies are Scott Clemmensen, who just signed a 2 year contract extension this summer for $2.4 million, and Jose Theodore, who has 1 year left at $1.5 million. Panthers GM Dale Tallon hasn’t ruled out Luongo, but only at the right not price, and not Quinton Howden, Jonathan Huberdeau or Alexander Petrovic.

“It’s useless energy wasted on speculating what might happen with him,” Clemmensen said of Luongo. “We pretty much have the same lineup that we had last year, as far as goalies are concerned. I feel like we did a great job last year, the three of us who played at this level anyway. I feel confident and very excited to be in the same kind of scenario.”