The Devils’ latest front-office addition brings a résumé built the hard way. Leo Luongo has been named the club’s new Head of Goaltending Excellence, taking over the same title Sunny held in Florida and bringing his own path of minor-league, European, and NHL experience with him.
Luongo was born on July 24, 1984, in Montreal, Quebec, and got into coaching early, beginning at 24. His first stop came in the QMJHL with Acadie-Bathurst in 2008-09, where he spent five seasons. From there, he moved to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch in 2012-13 as a consultant before heading overseas to Switzerland and working with the HC Lugano program from 2013-16.
At Lugano, Luongo moved all over the organization. He served as the goaltending coach for teams from U15 through U20, while also working with the professional club. He then returned to North America in 2016-17 and spent six seasons with the Springfield Thunderbirds as a goaltending and video coach.
After that, Luongo joined the Florida organization and his brother Roberto. He spent the last 10 seasons with the Panthers across the AHL and NHL levels, working in player development and goaltending coaching.
In 2024-25, he was part of Florida’s newly created Goaltending Excellence Department, which handled scouting and development for all of the organization’s goaltenders. He also carried the title of Head of Goalie Development and Scouting for the past two seasons and comes to New Jersey with two Stanley Cup rings.
His work has included time with a mix of veteran and younger goaltenders, including Spencer Knight, Alex Lyon, and Sam Montembault during his Springfield days, plus Roberto Luongo and Sergei Bobrovsky more recently. He also worked closely with Rob Tallas, a detail that stands out. The source also points to a 2016 story involving Leo and Roberto, with Leo playing a key role in getting his brother ready for the season, one in which Roberto Luongo posted a .915 sv pct.
In New Jersey, Luongo will oversee all goaltending development and report to Marty, the EVP and head of Hockey Operations. He’ll work with new Devils goalie coach Dan Stewart, Utica Goaltending Coach Brian Eklund, and New Jersey’s Head Amateur Goalie Scout/Development Coach Manny Legace, giving him influence over every goalie in the pipeline.
The move fits the pattern of the Mehta regime making another bet on structure and specialization. The source describes it as a move worth liking on paper, while also acknowledging that the real impact won’t be clear until later.
Luongo’s background, the grind through the minors and Europe, and the goalies he has worked with all stand out. So does the idea of adding another layer between Marty and the hands-on coaching.
There’s also a bigger goaltending picture behind the hire. Dan Stewart is expected to have the more immediate impact, and Sunny’s moneyball approach on Daws, Allen and Rittich remains part of the conversation. Goaltending, as the source notes, has been shaped by analytics in two ways: the position has become more uniform, with goalies all butterfly, all RVH, all getting big and playing the percentages, and teams have also learned that unless they have one of the elite few, it makes more sense to spend on skaters and defend better in front of the crease.
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