| Tuesday, October 24
By George Johnson
Special to ESPN.com |
|
It's been kinda like having Frankie Avalon back at the beach.
It's now apparent that Luc Robitaille, who used to drive the Valley Girls (and their moms) dizzy in his younger days, has always been born to play in the City of Angels.
Those pit-stops in Pittsburgh and Manhattan? Like thumbing through a late-Hemingway novel or sitting through Alfred Hitchcock's early talking pictures: They don't give you a true measure of the man.
Robitaille's married now. Has kids. Is a far cry from the charismatic moppet
who came to his first training camp as a ninth-round pick in '86, when the Kings still wore those atrocious yellow and purple uniforms.
|  | | Robitaille has found new scoring life in his second Los Angeles stint. |
In his first stint, Robitaille scored 392 goals in eight seasons. But he only scored 70 in his next three seasons with the Penguins and Rangers.
His current reincarnation as a King, which began with a lot of sniggering
speculation two years ago, has been an unqualified success. He's coming off a
comeback season of 39 goals and 74 points. And now, at the creaky
old age of 33, has sniped seven times and racked up 10 points in five starts
this year.
For the first time since the '92-93 season, Robitialle was named NHL Player
of the Week. With 524 goals, he's the league's fifth-highest active scorer and is tied for 21st all-time alongside former NY Islander great Bryan Trottier. And, more
importantly, he's just 20 goals shy of the legendary Maurice
Richard.
"To anyone from Quebec, the Rocket was more than just a player," Robitaille said. "It would be a big honor if I could pass him."
At his present clip, that'll be in a month or so.
Robitaille's inspired play is obviously a large part of why the Kings are off
to that 3-1-1 start. He and linemates Zigmund Palffy and Jozef Stumpel have
combined for 13 of the team's 14 goals.
"I'm on a new program now," Robitaille said. "I'm a lot stronger, and I
wanted to gain speed, to be quicker off my first three or four strides.
"So far, it's paid off. But we've all been around long enough to know you're
not going to get four or five a night (as a line)."
Robitaille also credits the change of scenery as well -- Luc obviously finds the L.A. smog more intoxicating than the New York grime.
"It's not as if I didn't like New York," pleads Robitaille. "I did. It was
just a different situation for me. My ice time was less. But, yeah, coming
back to L.A. has been great."
This is clearly a pivotal season for the Kings. New coach. New building (the
Staples Center, which opens Oct. 20). To draw back the fans, to make an
imprint on the crowded L.A. sports terrain, they need to win.
Simple, right?
But there's no town more fickle; more star-and-success driven; more ready to
embrace yet quicker to turn.
Robitaille thinks this edition of the Kings is up to the challenge.
"Our skill level is higher than last season," he said. "Our power play is
better. To get Ziggy on the team, then add Smolinski on the second line ...
it just gives us a lot more offensively. It's an exciting time for us.
Dallas, Detroit and I throw San Jose in there, too, they've got a lot of
talent.
"But we believe we can be competitive. Our goalies are good. Blake and
Norstrom on defense. As a matter of fact, we've got five or six good
defensemen now."
As major an acquisition as Palffy is, perhaps the most crucial newcomer to
the Kings is bench-boss Andy Murray, formerly of the Canadian National Team,
and most recently a high-school coach.
Murray may outwardly be a quiet, soft-spoken, almost bookish sort but he can
be as tough as taskmaster as any showboating screamer.
"At the end of the season, when we knew Larry (Robinson) wasn't coming back,
Dave (GM Taylor) got some of the veterans together and asked us what we
thought the team needed," Robitaille said. "We told him, more drive and
discipline. Andy's brought that, from Day One. More organization, too."
"Yeah, his practices are tough. But he's communicated with the veterans --
with everybody -- really well."
Murray repays Robitaille's compliments in kind.
"The thing that's been so impressive about the Robitaille-Stumpel-Palffy line
is that it's led our team defensively, too," Murray said. "I sat down with Rob Blake and Luc before the season, and told them I needed them to be our hardest-working guys in practice every day. And if they did that, the rest of the players would follow."
So far, they've been exemplary, though it's far too early to tell if the
Kings are merely fast out of the gate or in this for the long, six-month haul.
Rest of the West
Benched, blamed and bought-out by the Kings only eight short
months ago, Steve Duchesne has been one of the pleasant surprises so far in Motown.
In fact, as a whole, the elderly Detroit defensive brigade has held up quite
well.
Right now, Duchesne, not for being skilled and soft, is enjoying life in an
Odd Couple pairing with Chris Chelios, noted for being tough and dirty (Steve
obviously gets the Felix Unger part in this remake; Chelios the Oscar
Madison).
As one Detroit pundit noted: "You'd think Chelios would turn around and slash
the guy ... just on principle."
So far, there's has been a nice understanding.
"I'm definitely putting less pressure on myself this year," said Duchesne,
who signed a one-year $1 million deal with the Wings. "I tried to do too much
in L.A. Last year, I was thinking a few times about retiring. I just didn't
have the desire anymore, and I wanted to get that back."
Quick hits
The Red Wings lead the league in at least one department -- hernia
injuries. They have three players out because of them: Joe Kocur, Brent
Gilchrist and Kirk Maltby.
Robyn Regehr, the defense prospect key to
Calgary's unloading Theo Fleury to the Avs last year, has been dispatched to
play at AHL Saint John. Astounding, considering only three months ago Regehr
was involved in a car crash just outside Saskatoon, Sask., that claimed the
lives of two people, broke both his legs and thrust his career into jeopardy.
Regehr could now be playing in the NHL by the end of this month. "I just want
to get playing again," the 19-year-old said. "The longer I wait, the harder
it's going to be to play. I've gotten some confidence in practice. All I need
is to get that confidence back in a game."
Life is not beautiful these
days for Brad May, demoted to being the fifth left winger in Vancouver. "I've
never been through anything like this," complained May. "It's terrible. ... It sucks."
Yeah, whatever.
Bad signs: Calgary's 'crowd' of 12,328
for a (Canadian) Thanksgiving Monday matinee vs. Carolina was the lowest
regular-season crowd ever at the Saddledome. Meanwhile in Vancouver, a gathering of
just 13,321 for Chicago recently was the Canucks' most meager in
regular-season play in four years and smallest since moving into GM Place.
Detroit captain Steve Yzerman is on the verge of becoming only the 11th
player to score 600 goals and only the 10th to record 900 assists. But only
five others in history have accomplished that combo.
The Canucks have
shipped winger Trent Klatt to the minors, despite his being on a one-way
contract worth $1.1 million.
It only took Brian Sutter three games to make playmaking
centerman Marc Savard a healthy scratch. Savard, talked up to be Denis Savard
(circa 1984) by GM Al Coates when the Flames landed him at the draft, showed
up in the shape of Serge Savard (circa 1999) at the start of camp. Sutter
isn't impressed with Savard's drive and determination. "Not good enough," he
snorted.
George Johnson covers the NHL for the Calgary Sun. His Western Conference column appears every week during the season on ESPN.com. |  |
