Larry Robinson Hopes for Better Ending : Kings: He didn’t expect to finish his 20-year career on a picket line, which might happen soon.

Larry Robinson never dreamed it might end this way.

Not after 20 years in the National Hockey League.

Not after six Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens.

Not after a career as one of the league’s great defensemen.

Robinson wanted to retire at the blue line, not the picket line.

Yet the King defenseman, who figured he still had several weeks left before hanging up his skates at 40, now finds himself with only a few days left until the entire league hangs up its skates and goes on strike unless owners and players can reach a new collective bargaining agreement.

“It’s sad,” Robinson said. “I’m coming down to my last few days as a hockey player and I might not get to finish them.”

Robinson remains resolute, however, in his support of the NHL Players Assn., and its executive director, Bob Goodenow.

“We have left it in the hands of Bob,” Robinson said. “You have to stick up for what’s right.”

Robinson simply wishes he knew what was right for himself after he skates off the ice for the final time, whenever that might be.

He is not ready to completely leave the game he has been playing professionally for two decades.

Robinson recently talked to King General Manager Rogie Vachon about staying with the organization in either a coaching or scouting capacity.

But Vachon is in no position to give Robinson a definite answer until the season ends and decisions are made about the current coaching staff.

Robinson could wind up on the staff of the new Tampa Bay Lightning once that expansion team hires a head coach. He would like to move his family to Florida, where he has land and keeps his nine horses.

Robinson’s name has also been linked to the other expansion team, the Ottawa Senators, as head coach. But he doesn’t want to move back to Canada.

And don’t completely rule out the idea of Robinson returning as a player.

He is not planning on it but, responding to rumors that the Lightning would love to have him on the ice for the name value, Robinson said, “If someone was to offer me $1 million to play one year, I’d be sick in the mind to not at least think about it.”

Barring that development, though, this is going to be it for the playing career of Robinson, who is in the final season of a three-year, $1.65-million contract.

He will retire having won two Norris Trophies as the league’s best defenseman, and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1978, given to the most valuable player in the playoffs.

Robinson has played in 1,381 games, ninth on the NHL’s all-time list. His 749 assists put him second on the list for defensemen. He also has 207 goals.

But Robinson has appeared in only 53 of the Kings’ 75 games this season, and has two goals, nine assists and 37 penalty minutes.

He is the oldest player in the league and the years have taken their toll. He can’t consistently do the things he once did. But King owner Bruce McNall signed Robinson for his ability to lead and inspire as much as anything else.

“You look at (defensemen) Peter Ahola and Brent Thompson,” Coach Tom Webster said. “Here are two young kids who certainly need someone like that to talk to. Larry Robinson is a hockey player, but I also consider him a friend and a guy I can talk to.”

But Robinson still wants to do more than talk.

“I don’t feel my role is as important as others may see it,” he said. “They want what I bring to the younger players and to the dressing room, but I’ve always played a lot. More and more, my ice time has been cut down. I’m not playing in important situations. I’m not saying that it’s not justified. The coaches have been great. They’ve told me my role, but it’s still tough sitting and watching.”

When he is not playing, Robinson can often be found in the press box, next to assistant coach Cap Raeder. You wouldn’t have seen Robinson there a few seasons ago.

“In other years, when (he was scratched), I’d be so mad, I wouldn’t watch the game. Now, it doesn’t upset me as much. I look at it as an opportunity to learn coaching.

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be out there. The drive is still there. But I’m realistic. I know we’ve got young guys like Brent Thompson, Peter Ahola and Rob Blake, young kids who need time on the ice. I understand why they put them out there. I’m all for that. If I was the coach, I’d do the same thing.”

Although he has kept himself in great shape, Robinson acknowledges that he is mentally tired.

“It’s tough getting yourself up for an 80-game schedule after you’ve done it for 20 years,” he said. “You can only go to the well so often. The losses keep getting harder and harder to take.”

So Robinson is ready to turn in his hockey stick. But he didn’t expect to exchange it for a picket sign.