ROBINSON LOOKING FOR NEW NHL HOME
Hall of famer Larry Robinson will turn 66 on June 2, but he’s still not ready to fully retire from the game of hockey.
After spending the last five seasons with the San Jose Sharks as an associate coach and director of player development, the former Canadiens defenceman is now looking for a new job with another NHL team. Robinson isn’t looking to go behind an NHL bench — something he hasn’t done for the last two seasons — instead preferring a consultant job that would allow him to work with young defencemen, something he still loves to do.
Robinson has been part of nine Stanley Cup champions, six as a player with the Canadiens and three with the New Jersey Devils in three different roles: head coach, assistant coach and consultant.
Robinson’s contract with the Sharks expires July 1, but agent Donnie Cape said Thursday San Jose general manager Doug Wilson has given him permission to speak with other teams. Robinson lives in Bradenton, Fla., and the distance from San Jose is one of the big reasons he’s looking for a new team to work for.
With his home in Florida, the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning would likely be high on Robinson’s wish list, but Cape said he would listen to offers from any team, including the Canadiens.
“We’re looking for something that’s going to make him comfortable,” Cape said. “He doesn’t want to go behind the bench, but we will listen to what anybody has to say.”
However, don’t expect to see Robinson back with the Canadiens organization.
The Canadiens had a chance to hire Robinson the last time he was a free agent in 2012, shortly after Marc Bergevin took over as Montreal’s general manager and named Michel Therrien head coach. Cape has said in the past he had a meeting lined up with Bergevin at the time to discuss the possibility of Robinson joining the Canadiens coaching staff, but added the GM cancelled it after deciding to hire J.J. Daigneault as an assistant to work with the defence. Canadiens owner Geoff Molson insisted it was Robinson’s decision to go to San Jose instead of Montreal.
In his autobiography, The Great Defender: My Hockey Odyssey, which was published in 2014, Robinson wrote: “After the 2011-12 season, Marc Bergevin was hired as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, and I let it be known that I would be very interested in returning to Montreal as part of their coaching staff. Having played there for so many years, and with coaching experience under my belt, I had hoped that I might be considered. As it turned out, they hired J.J. Daigneault for the available position.”
Robinson also wrote in the book that the key to coaching is “to avoid trying to change somebody.”
“Instead you want to help them improve the way they already do certain things to make them more effective. For me, that was the biggest transition from being Larry Robinson the player to Larry Robinson the coach. You can’t say, ‘I would have done it this way.’ That’s not the only way it works — you’re not the one doing it.”
Robinson also wrote about why he didn’t like being a head coach: “I love being an assistant coach the most, in fact. I’m in a position where I can contribute. I was too emotional to be a head coach. I cared too much and I couldn’t turn it off. It took its toll on me and I ended up making myself sick. I’m not in this industry to kill myself, so I figured I’d better change if I wanted to stay in the game.”
Robinson still wants to stay in the game now, although in a reduced role.
Among the defencemen Robinson worked with in San Jose are Brent Burns, a finalist for the Norris Trophy for the second straight year this season, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, a Montreal native who has become one of the NHL’s best defensive defencemen.
Robinson is the only living member of the Canadiens’ all-time dream team as voted by fans during the club’s 75th anniversary season in 1985. The other members of that team are goalie Jacques Plante, defenceman Doug Harvey, centre Jean Beliveau, right-winger Maurice Richard, left-winger Dickie Moore and coach Toe Blake.
Cape said the perfect role for Robinson at this point in his life would be to work with players at training camp, keep tabs on the development of young defencemen during the season and then spend time with players when necessary if they are having specific problems. Cape expects his phone to start ringing with calls from NHL general managers interested in Robinson’s services, and why wouldn’t they be?
“If it’s the right thing, we can wrap it up right away,” Cape said. “If it takes time, it doesn’t matter. It’s more important the fit than anything else. The comfort zone, respectability, all that has to come into play.”