Larry Robinson Is Canadiens’ Forgotten Star

Larry Robinson was attracting little attention as he surveyed the oak antiques at a suburban shopping center on a recent Sunday morning.

“Look, there’s the Big Bird,” one middle-aged man said to his wife, pointing at the Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman in his red leather jacket and beige slacks.

“Do you mean the big yellow bird from Sesame Street?” his wife asked ingenuously.

Despite a star-studded 14-year National Hockey League career, Robinson can still walk the streets of Montreal virtually unrecognized. Only one man approached him to talk hockey at the antique show he attended with his 15-year-old son, Jeffery.

In hockey-hungry Hartford or star-dazed New York, the two-time Norris trophy winner and five-time all-star would be mobbed as a celebrity.

But Montreal is a hockey mecca which reserves its adoration for superstars like Maurice Richard, Doug Harvey, Jacques Plante, Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur. An ordinary star like Robinson doesn’t set tongues wagging outside the Montreal dressing room.

The respect is apparent when his teammates talk about him.

“He always knows what to do,” rookie defenseman Mike Lalor said. “He has coolness. If I make a mistake, he discusses it with me. It’s easy to listen to him because you know he’s facing the same things you are and he knows what he’s talking about.”

Defenseman Craig Ludwig, 25, grew up in Wisconsin without ever seeing Robinson play, but he heard and read plenty about him.

“We watch Larry every minute he’s on the ice,” Ludwig said. “The other defensemen learn from him by watching how he positions himself and how he takes men out. He must have been awesome in his prime the way everyone talks about him. It’s hard to believe he could have been any better than he is now.”

Ludwig knows just how good Robinson is because he has to practice with and against him almost every day.

Robinson, who turns 35 next month, looked like an adult teasing children as he played rag with Ludwig and Petr Svoboda in practice.

Robinson held off the frail Svoboda with one arm as he dipsy-doodled with his stick and cradled the puck well out of the reach of the armadillo-like Ludwig.

After 20 seconds of futility, the two younger players gave up trying to snatch the puck away from him. ‘Big Bird’ smiled.

The oldest player on the team is its biggest kid. And he’s not ashamed of either.

“Gotcha, ha, ha,” the 6 foot-3, 210-pound Robinson yelled as he checked Chris Nilan into the boards and grabbed the puck.

Long, strong strides explode from his groin as he takes off up the ice with the puck. His stilt-like legs look like telephone poles that are being wracked by electricity surges.

His forays into the opposition’s zone usually result in points. His 19 goals and 63 assists during the regular season placed him third among the Canadiens’ scorers.

He is being touted as a strong candidate for his third Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the league. He leaves that speculation to others, but is candid enough to acknowledge that he’d like to add a sixth Stanley Cup ring to his collection.

“It’s certainly much nicer to go out on top,” Robinson said prior to the first game against the Rangers. “That’s what is at hand right now.”

When asked if this is his last season, he snaps without hesitation: “No.” After a few seconds of reflection, he adds: “Well I guess this summer is no different than the last two or three. I guess it’s (retirement) always a possibility.”

Right now, he’s having too good a time in the playoffs to think about leaving the game he loves. The Canadiens play Game 3 of the Wales Conference final Monday night against the Rangers at New York.

“I try to do the best I can and have fun,” he said. “I always have fun.”