Robinson Is in His Element Once Again

Sweaty and red-faced, Larry Robinson clomped into the locker room of the New Jersey Devils’ practice arena and laughed heartily. He had just finished a pickup game with the team’s reserves, and the rest of the day was his. As an assistant coach, he had no videos to analyze and no meetings to discuss personnel--none of the chores he faced in four seasons as the Kings’ coach.

“He’s involved with the players, apparently more than he has been, and that’s what he enjoys most,” said Devil Coach Robbie Ftorek, also a former King head coach. “He can narrow it down to teaching and working one-on-one, and he couldn’t do that before as much as he wanted to. I believe he enjoys what he’s doing right now.”

All that, and no more sleepless nights. No wonder Robinson was grinning, a sight rarely seen in Los Angeles.

“I tried to keep upbeat as much as possible, but a lot of things you have to do as a head coach, you don’t have to do as an assistant,” he said. “I can try to smooth things out now, as opposed to laying down the line.”

With the Kings, that line wavered too much. Players thought him too quick to switch the line combinations, but he said that was because he had little to work with most of his term.

“We talked about [acquiring] Ziggy Palffy and Bryan Smolinski when I was there, but they [General Manager Dave Taylor and club executives] said they didn’t want to give up their future. How quickly that went out the window,” he said.

“As I said to Davey, ‘Great trade. Too bad it was a year late.’ ”

With no regrets about his time with the Kings, Robinson doesn’t expect to feel uncomfortable tonight when the teams play at Continental Airlines Arena. If he was stung, it was when he read Glen Murray’s comments that Robinson didn’t define players’ jobs the way Andy Murray does.

“They had jobs before. It’s a matter of whether they did them or not,” said Robinson, previously an assistant in New Jersey before his King tenure. “It’s also a matter of everybody being healthy. . . .

“I thought we did a great job. We turned around a disaster. When I first got there, trust me, there were a lot of nights we looked at the [chalk]board and said, ‘How are we going to compete?’ I feel we accomplished a lot.”

He left on good enough terms to request and receive permission from Murray to attend the Kings’ practice Monday at Montclair State University after the Devils’ session. Robinson greeted players outside the locker room, shaking hands and catching up on family news. When Aki Berg emerged, Robinson pretended to glare.

“Where were you the last two years?” he said, referring to Berg’s decision to play in Finland last season. “You were the one that got me fired.”

Luc Robitaille, who has said he welcomes the discipline and purpose Murray installed, joined the crowd around Robinson.

“We love him,” Robitaille said. “He’s a great guy, a great person.”

It’s just that he may look better from a distance and in a different role.

MIRACLE ON ICE, PART 2?

Although Herb Brooks is remembered for coaching the U.S. Olympic team to a gold-medal upset at Lake Placid in 1980, he also did a fine job with the New York Rangers in the early 1980s.

With a small, skillful team that then-Flyer coach Bob McCammon derided as “Smurfs”--a taunt he regretted when the Rangers upset the Flyers in the playoffs--the Rangers played a European-style motion system. Their misfortune was being pitted against the Islanders in the playoffs during the Islanders’ Stanley Cup dynasty.

Brooks was less successful with Minnesota and New Jersey but may thrive in Pittsburgh, where he replaced Kevin Constantine as coach last week. The NHL is turning away from defensive drudgery to a more open style, and Brooks has a corps of fast, skillful forwards to deploy. Hockey needs more ingenuity and fewer neutral-zone traps, and Brooks’ return will help.

“We’re in the entertainment business here,” he said. “And the athletes themselves are the most important part of the equation.”

Amen.

However, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Constantine did a great job keeping the Penguins competitive after Mario Lemieux retired and Ron Francis left as a free agent. He might have altered his defensive system as the Penguins added more skill, and he should have realized players were tuning out his video sessions, but he did well in the face of daunting pressure.

“With Herb Brooks, I think they’re looking for chemistry, because he and Craig [Patrick, the Penguin general manager] worked together before,” said Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman, who coached the Penguins to the 1992 Cup championship. “I think they’ve got no time to rebuild. This is a crucial point of the season for them.

“That was a good team last year. They beat a No. 1 team [the Devils] in the playoffs. What really hurt them is the loss of their goaltender, Tom Barrasso [to injury]. When they were starting to win games he was really solid. I don’t think you can take a team like that and lose a goaltender and expect to do well.”

ROGER THAT

Perhaps the only sentiment shared by everyone in hockey is wishing Flyer Coach Roger Neilson well in his fight against bone marrow cancer, which took the life of his sister a few years ago.

Neilson, a student of the game, became known as “Captain Video” for pioneering the use of videotapes in scouting and analysis. He has a humorous side too. When he coached the Rangers, he went to a discount store in Penn Station before each home game and bought a $5 tie--each more awful than the one before.

Bowman, who gave Neilson his first professional hockey job when Neilson was coaching youth teams in Toronto and Bowman was scouting for Montreal, was encouraged after he spoke to Neilson last Friday.

“Roger’s an upbeat and pretty positive guy, which is good,” Bowman said. “It’s tough. But he was kidding me that the only thing that’s going to happen is, he’s going to have less hair than I have.”

Although Neilson hoped to avoid missing any games, he said last weekend he will leave the team in early March to undergo a bone marrow transplant. He expects to return for the playoffs.

HE’S NO HEAD CASE

Patrik Stefan, chosen first overall by Atlanta last June after two seasons with the Long Beach Ice Dogs, is gradually adjusting to life in the NHL.

“It’s going to take some time until we’re winning some games, but we’re working hard and it will get better,” the Czech-born center said. “They’re not pushing me. They’re letting me take it slowly, and for my first year, that’s fine. I feel great and the guys are helping me a lot.”

His career was threatened by multiple concussions he suffered while with the Ice Dogs, and Thrasher executives checked him carefully before drafting him. He suffered another concussion this season and missed two games, but he’s not concerned.

“That was fine,” he said. “I’ve had no problems since that.”

Les Jackson, the Thrashers’ assistant general manager, said Stefan missed those games only as a precaution.

“Because there’s been so many [concussions] around the league, you get worried,” Jackson said. “He’s potentially our guy of the future.”

That future may not be far away for Stefan, who has three goals and 13 points in 25 games. “His strength is his ability to handle the puck and make plays. He’s able to get the transition game going and get the puck up ice,” Jackson said. “He’s got to learn to play without the puck, but that’s pretty standard for young kids. He’s got a great upside.”

SLAPSHOTS

A key reason for the renaissance of Owen Nolan, who has a league-leading 22 goals, is the fitness regimen he followed last summer. He trained daily with a group led by Shark teammate Jeff Friesen for workouts of skating, running and mountain biking.

The 37-member group that owns the Edmonton Oilers is splintering. Investors Cal Nichols--who assembled the group to keep the club from moving--and Gary Gregg said they may sell their stakes to fellow investor Bruce Saville if there’s no fiscal accountability, and warned that the club could move unless changes are made in economic practices. General Manager Glen Sather scorned the ego clashes as “kindergarten,” and said he’s running as tight an operation as he can.

Flyer center Eric Lindros has his own Web site--https://www.ericlindros.net--but there’s a charitable angle to it. Profits from merchandise sold through the site will go to Children’s Miracle Network. . . . Marty McSorley signed with Boston for $600,000, prorated for the games already missed this season. Which proves physical defensemen are like left-handed pitchers--they’ll find work long after their prime.

The Board of Governors’ decision to have two referees work every game next season was widely applauded. “I like it. There isn’t as much potential for penalties,” Bowman said. “There’s not as much stuff going on.” Taylor agreed. “I think it cuts down on a lot of the cheap stuff away from the puck,” he said. “The games with two referees have not been any longer [than with one] and have more flow.”

Taylor also backed the extension of the Canadian Assistance Plan through 2003-04. The plan gives subsidies to small-market Canadian teams. “We’d like to see Canadian teams stay where they are,” he said. “It’s a challenge--look at the dollar and the tax disadvantage.”