On the Defensive : Larry Robinson Almost Afraid to Touch the Puck

Larry Robinson has heard the taunts more than once this season.

“Hey, ya bum,” a fan will bellow from the safety of his seat, “why don’t you retire?”

It hurts as much the recent rash of costly turnovers Robinson has committed.

It hurts as much as the collapse of his Kings into fourth place in the Smythe Division.

It hurts as much as the aches and pains he sometimes feels in a body that has been subjected to the rigors of playing defenseman in professional hockey for 20 years.

Indeed, the fan’s question is a reasonable one.

Why, after 19 years in the Montreal Canadiens’ organization and a career filled with Stanley Cups, awards and adulation as one of the game’s great defensemen, didn’t he retire last summer instead of starting all over again in Los Angeles at age 38?

“Because the thing that scares me,” Robinson said, “is to have told people that’s it and then to have realized I should have played one more year. People who have gone through it tell me I should play as long as I can, because once you’re out, it’s too late.”

Of course, it didn’t hurt that Robinson, having become a free agent, had a three-year, $1.65-million contract waved in front of him by King owner Bruce McNall last summer. The deal, for two seasons with an option year, pays Robinson $550,000 this season.

But when he signed, Robinson didn’t exactly feel elated. Afraid is a better word.

“I was scared,” he said. “Here’s a man, Bruce McNall, who had enough confidence in me to make me an offer like that. I was afraid I would not live up to his expectations.”

It’s a fear Robinson lives with every day.

Larry Robinson didn’t start as a defenseman. And if the weather in Ottawa had been a little bit better, he might never have become one.

Robinson was a center when he played junior hockey while living on his parents’ Ottawa farm.

Because of a bad snowstorm, Robinson missed one game. He wound up, instead, sitting with Dan Dexter, who had another junior team. Dexter, down to three defensemen, figured Robinson, then a strapping 17-year-old, might be just what he needed.

Robinson was interested. The result: junior hockey lost a center and the NHL gained one of its all-time defensemen.

The transition was difficult at first.

“Everyone likes to be part of the glory,” Robinson said. “But I got to the point where I get more satisfaction out of setting up a pass.”

There was still plenty of glory for him, as well.

After starting his professional career with Kitchener of the old Ottawa Hockey Assn. in 1970, Robinson joined the Canadiens in the 1972-73 season.

In all, the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder played on six Stanley Cup champions, was twice named winner of the James Norris Trophy, awarded to the league’s best defenseman; and, in 1978, won the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the playoff MVP.

In 59 games this season, he has 38 points, giving him a lifetime total of 921, second best in NHL history among defensemen, behind only Denis Potvin.

By the end of last season, however, Robinson knew it was time to move on.

“They were going with a lot of young kids,” he said of the Canadiens. “I didn’t want to stick around as a baby-sitter. I hate watching. I’m not a good fan.”

He knew it would be different with the Kings, but he hadn’t realized how much.

“Over there,” Robinson said, speaking of the Adams Division, “it was more of a one-on-one game. Dump and chase. You go bang in the corner and whoever comes up with the puck gets going. Here, it’s much quicker, more controlled. There are guys coming at you from all directions.”

Too many for Robinson, lately.

He’s been on a bad streak, giving up the puck for six opposing goals in his last four games. Against the Detroit Red Wings on the last Kings’ trip, Robinson’s turnover allowed Steve Yzerman to score the game-winning goal with 37 seconds to play. Against the Vancouver Canucks last week, the final two goals in a 6-4 loss were the direct result of Robinson giveaways.

It has been a nightmare for Robinson, one that has kept him tossing and turning well into the night, replaying the crucial moments over and over again in the VCR of his mind.

He has changed sticks. He has even changed suits, trying to change his luck.

But, as the turnovers keep coming, Robinson has thoughts he never would have dreamed of in his prime. He finds himself hoping he doesn’t even get the puck.

“I can’t wait to get off the ice,” he admitted, “so I don’t get scored on. I have started to doubt my abilities. I squeeze my stick harder. It sometimes seems like we don’t have any other black shirts out there other than mine--like the other side has 15 guys.

“I think maybe it’s because I’m not in shape, so I work out. I think my shot is off, so I pound the puck in practice until my arms are sore.”

Could he be simply too old? Has he lost a step? Or reaction time?

“I can’t always do things I once did,” Robinson said. “But I think I can still keep up. If I couldn’t, I’d quit.

“One of the problems is the new team. You play seven, eight years with the same people. When you make a move, you expect a guy to be there because you know him so well. Now, the guy is not always there.”

Robinson doesn’t see retirement in his immediate future.

“I made the decision to play,” he said, “and I’m very happy with it. I’m going to take it just one year at a time.”

When he does finally call it quits, Robinson, close to buying a home in Hidden Hills, wants to devote himself to horses, his next love after hockey. He owns six horses in Canada, is an avid polo player and has a share in a race horse with McNall, a horse named fittingly, it would seem, Down Again.

McNall is far from down on Robinson’s play.

“Larry, in a way, has tried to do almost too much,” McNall said. “A defensive guy is someone people see most when he makes a mistake. And being so well known, Larry draws a lot of attention that others do not. Larry Robinson is a big name and he’s received some undue criticism.

“But he handles it great. He’ll say, ‘Yeah, I blew that one.’ It’s kind of refreshing. He’s so open and honest, it’s a nice breath of fresh air. But I think he’s too hard on himself.”

So no regrets about signing Robinson?

“Not at all,” McNall said. “We needed significant help with our defense, and he’s been helpful to everyone. Given the chance to sign him, I would do it again.”

Robinson’s coach, Tom Webster, is also firmly in his corner.

“Hockey players generally are their own worst critics,” said Webster. “You don’t have to say much to Larry. You’ve just got to lend support.

“He bears too much of the burden on his own shoulders. It’s like a running back in football. You look for the fumbles and, eventually, he’s going to have them. Same thing with turnovers in hockey. But, overall, I think he has played well.”

Along with the personal adjustments, Robinson has also had to learn to play with a team that emphasizes offense over defense to a degree unheard of with the Canadiens.

“I was warned before I got here,” Robinson said. “In Montreal, if we had three or four two-on-ones or three-on-twos in a game, it would be bad. With this team, we get that many in the first five minutes.”

Had the Kings enjoyed more success this season, his own problems would be more palatable.

“We just haven’t found ourselves yet as a team,” he said.

Robinson’s hope for salvation is that such a discovery will occur in the playoffs, assuming the Kings hold on to get there.

“That’s the good thing about hockey,” he said. “There’s always tomorrow. But we’re running out of tomorrows.”

And nobody more so than Larry Robinson.