Luc Robitaille

**Luc Robitaille** (born Luc Jean-Marie Robitaille on February 17, 1966 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former NHL player who played for the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings

He currently serves as president of the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL.

## Playing Career

### Junior

Luc was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the ninth round (171st overall) of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. Many hockey experts expected him to be drafted late in the draft due to his poor skating ability.

Luc himself has stated he had only had contact with one NHL team during his junior career, the Kings.

He happened to be attending the 1984 draft (in the stands) and later introduced himself to first-year Kings general manager Rogie Vachon. He and his former teammate Dave Taylor are the lowest NHL draft picks to have recorded 1,000 career points.

He played junior hockey for the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).

In three seasons with the Olympiques from 1983 to 1986, Luc amassed 155 goals and 269 assists for 424 points in only 197 games, including winning the CHL Player of the Year with 191 points in 1985–86.

In his honour, the QMJHL later created the Luc Robitaille Trophy (which is awarded to the team which scores the most goals each season).

### Professional

Luc's first NHL season was in 1986–87 where he helped the Kings qualify for the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs despite a 31–41–8 record.

He scored 45 goals and had 39 assists in 79 games, edging Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall for the Calder Memorial Trophy for the NHL's top rookie, making him the only Los Angeles player to ever win the award. He also earned a spot on the Second All-Star Team.

Luc scored more than 40 goals in each of his first eight seasons, including three 50 or more goal seasons, with a career-high 63 in 1992–93. During that year, he set NHL records for most goals and points (125) in a season by a left winger.

Luc's 63-goal record amongst left wingers was eclipsed by Alexander Ovechkin during the 2007–08 season (although he still holds the record for most points in a season by a left winger).

With captain and superstar Wayne Gretzky sidelined by injury for much of 1992–93, he assumed the captaincy and led the team in scoring, playing a key role in helping his struggling team to make the playoffs.

In 1993, the Kings reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history; however, they lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games. He had 9 goals and 13 assists in 24 playoff games.

During the 1993–94 season, Luc's scoring totals remained respectable but considerably lower than his previous seasons while Gretzky had returned from injury to win the NHL scoring title. The Kings failed to make the 1994 playoffs.

On July 29, 1994, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Rick Tocchet and the Penguins' second-round pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft (used to select Pavel Rosa).

With Pittsburgh, Robitaille set then-career lows in goals and assists during the strike-shortened 1994–95 season

After one season, Luc was traded to the New York Rangers (alongside Ulf Samuelsson) in exchange for Petr Nedved and Sergei Zubov. He had below-average numbers in two seasons with the Rangers, and for the first time in his career, had more penalty minutes (80) than points (69) in 1995–96.

On August 28, 1997, new general manager Dave Taylor's first move, the Kings re-acquired Luc from the Rangers in exchange for Kevin Stevens

Luc struggled in his first season back in Los Angeles, scoring only 16 goals in an injury-shortened 1997–98 season; however, he returned to his All-Star form, scoring no fewer than 36 goals and had the best stats of his career after his first stint with the Kings during those three seasons.

On January 7, 1999, he scored his 500th career goal in a 4–2 victory at the Great Western Forum against the Buffalo Sabres.

During the 2000–01 season, Luc scored 37 goals and 88 points to help lead the Kings to their first playoff appearance since 1998.

During the 2000–01 playoffs, he helped the seventh-seeded Kings to a first-round upset of the Detroit Red Wings, and his team took the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche to seven games in the conference semifinals.

He was named a second team all-star, his first post-season team honour since 1993. He turned down a one-year deal with a substantial pay cut by Kings GM Dave Taylor.

Luc signed a two-year, $9 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings beginning in the 2001–02 season, accepting less compensation than what other teams offered because the Red Wings represented his best chance at winning the Stanley Cup, particularly after their recent acquisition of goaltender Dominik Hasek.

In his first season with the Red Wings, he scored 30 goals and 50 points helping them win the Presidents' Trophy, awarded to the team with the best regular season record.

Due to the tremendous depth of scorers among Detroit's roster, Luc had less playoff ice time, although he still scored four playoff goals. The Red Wings defeated the Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals in seven games, meaning that he was going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in his career.

With the Red Wings' 3–1 victory in Game 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes, Luc's quest for an elusive Stanley Cup championship finally came to an end.

At the direction of Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, all of the teammates who had never previously won the Cup would hoist it after Yzerman, with Robitaille being the third Red Wing to skate the Cup around Joe Louis Arena, after Yzerman and Hašek.

Luc had the lowest goal total in his career in 2002–03, due partially to limited ice time, and the Red Wings were upset in the first round of the playoffs by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in a four-game sweep.

Luc returned to Kings as a free agent for the 2003–04 season. Although his scoring totals (22 goals and 29 assists) were below his previous levels as a King, he did lead the team in both goals and points, and the Kings stayed in playoff contention until a shocking 11-game losing streak to finish the season.

On March 9, 2004, he scored the 650th goal of his professional career in a 3–2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes at Staples Center.

Luc played his 1,000th game as a King a few days later, on March 13, 2004, in a 3–1 loss to the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion at San Jose.

On January 19, 2006, during a game against the Atlanta Thrashers, he scored a hat-trick, tying and passing Marcel Dionne's then-franchise record of 550 goals.[20] His record-breaking goal was met with several minutes of standing ovations and a video-congratulation reel on the scoreboard.

On April 10, 2006, the Kings announced Luc's intention to retire at the conclusion of the 2005–06 NHL season. He officially confirmed this the next day in a press conference held at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California.

Luc's final goal and point was scored in typical Luc Robitaille fashion: one-timing a pass from Jeremy Roenick while at the centre of the right wing face-off circle past goaltender Curtis Joseph during a power play in a March 14, 2006, 6–2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.

He played his final NHL home game as a Los Angeles King against the Calgary Flames on April 15, 2006. He also wore the captain's "C" that normally belonged to defenceman Mattias Norstrom. Although he was held without a point in the game, he logged 18:37 of ice time and had four shots on goal.

Luc was also the second shooter in the shootout, but his shot towards the upper-right corner of the net was stopped by the glove of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff despite being given an open five hole.

The Kings ultimately won the game 2–1 off of a shootout goal by Pavol Demitra and three shootout saves by Kings goaltender Jason LaBarbera.

The Kings held a curtain call for Luc after the game, where he was given a standing ovation by the sell-out crowd of 18,118 fans in attendance. After chants of his name died down, he gave a short speech and did one final lap of the rink at Staples Center.

He finished his playing career on April 17, 2006, at the HP Pavilion in a game against the San Jose Sharks. The Kings won 4–0. He received applause and chants of "Luuuc, Luuuc!" throughout the night by the 17,496 fans in attendance, as well as good wishes from many of the opposing players of the Sharks.

After the game ended, the Kings players came out and gathered around Luc first, rather than the traditional congratulation of the goaltender. The Sharks players also came onto the ice to shake hands with him before they headed off into their locker room.

## International Play

Luc has participated in three international tournaments for Canada:

* 1986 World Junior Championships
* 1991 Canada Cup
* 1994 World Championships

The gold medal at the 1994 world championship was Canada's first title in 33 years. Going unbeaten through the tournament, Canada faced Finland in the final. Finland took the lead, but Canada courtesy of Rod Brind'Amour tied the game.

Ten minutes of overtime solved nothing, and the game went into a shoot out. In the first five shots, Robitaille and Joe Sakic scored for Canada, but Jari Kurri & Mikko Makela responded for the Finns, meaning the game moved to a sudden-victory shootout.

Luc was up first for Canada; despite losing the puck on his approach, he was able to beat Jarmo Myllys to put the pressure on the Finns. Bill Ranford made the save and Canada was once again named the world champions.

## Executive Career

On May 25, 2007, Luc was named the LA Kings' president of business operations. He also serves as the team's alternate governor. On April 10, 2017, he was named president of the Kings.

Since joining the Kings in a management role, the team has won two Stanley Cups, in 2011–12 and 2013–14.

## Personal Life

Luc is married to Stacia (née Toten, formerly McQueen). They have two sons: actor Steven (born July 13, 1988) from his wife's first marriage and Jesse (born June 2, 1995). He became an American citizen in 2005.