Robinson Gets Four-Year Deal to Coach Kings

Not only did the Kings get Larry Robinson, they got him for nothing.

Talk about a bargain.

In desperate need of a popular, knowledgeable head coach to put the emphasis back on the ice and the team back in the playoffs, the Kings have hired Larry Robinson, signing him, as reported in Tuesday’s Times, to a four-year contract worth around $3 million.

Robinson replaces Barry Melrose, who was fired with seven games left at the end of last season.

Two issues had to be resolved before Robinson, a star defenseman in the NHL for two decades and a member of six Stanley Cup champions while a Montreal Canadien, could return to Los Angeles, where he finished his playing career in the 1991-92 season.

First was the matter of compensation. Robinson was an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils last season and an architect of the defense that played a key role the Devils’ Cup victory.

New Jersey General Manager Lou Lamoriello let it be known that any team coming after Robinson would have to pay for his services. It was assumed the price would be a first-round draft choice.

The problem for the Kings was that they had already traded their 1996 first-round pick on draft day to the Washington Capitals.

But in the end, Lamoriello, not wishing to stand in the way of the 44-year-old Robinson, relented and let him go for free.

Robinson himself had concerns. After all, he doesn’t even know for whom he’ll be working. The Kings’ financial picture has been blurred since owner Bruce McNall went bankrupt. The team itself could still be thrown into bankruptcy, not a very comforting thought for a new coach who would like to know that he is going to get paid and that his employers will be able to pay for enough talent in the future to assure him a fair chance of winning.

Robinson, who was not available for comment Tuesday but will meet the media at a Forum news conference today, talked to the Florida Panthers about their vacant head coaching job and was mentioned for several others.

But the Kings kept talking to him. Team chairman Joseph Cohen spent hours discussing the job with Robinson. And McNall, who made it possible for Robinson to spend his last three seasons on ice in Los Angeles, talked to Robinson’s agent, Tom Reich.

In the end, Robinson felt comfortable knowing his contract was guaranteed even in the event of a bankruptcy. He also felt that, if the Kings could afford his salary, surely other money would be available to sign players.

And what was the reaction of the current players to the news that their old teammate was about to become their new leader?

Perhaps defenseman Rob Blake summed it up best. Blake finished the front nine at Pine Valley Country Club in Ontario, Canada, Tuesday afternoon, paused to check his phone messages, heard that Robinson had gotten the job and then joyfully clobbered his tee shot on the 10th hole.

“I hit it a ton,” Blake said, the exultation evident in his voice as he spoke by phone Tuesday night from his summer cottage on the shore of Lake Erie.

Blake, more than any other King, can appreciate Robinson’s skills as a teacher and motivator. It was Robinson who tutored Blake in Blake’s first impressionable years in the NHL.

“There was not a better player in the league to serve as a role model,” Blake said. “I’m pretty excited. It’s unbelievable. This is the biggest step forward this club has taken in a couple of years.”

It has been a bleak few years for the Kings, who have failed to make the playoffs in each of the last two seasons after reaching the Cup finals in 1993, but forward Tony Granato, speaking from Wisconsin, said things will change with Robinson.

“For so many years, this organization changed its mind and its philosophy,” Granato said, “and its way of thinking. Now you have behind the bench a man who knows only one way to think and that’s to play defensive hockey. We’ll still have plenty of offense, but he knows you have to let up a little at the offensive end to win.

“And he’ll show you don’t have to be a jerk to be a successful coach. He’ll put his foot down when he has to, but the guys already respect him and that’s something we’ve needed.”

Times staff writer Lisa Dillman contributed to this story.