Luc Robitaille makes a splash at L.A. City Hall

The Los Angeles City Council today honored former hockey great and L.A. Kings executive Luc Robitaille, praising his Hall of Fame career and the work he’s done for children and families in need both in Southern California and Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.

Councilman Greig Smith thanked Robitaille not only for being one of the King’s most prolific scorers, but for working with at-risk children at an ice rink in the San Fernando Valley, saying he provided positive activities and alternatives they otherwise would not see.

"That’s what separates the great players from the not-so-great players. They’re willing to give back to the communities they worked in and are stars in," Smith said.

Robitaille played for the Kings for 14 of his 19 NHL seasons and during his career scored 668 goals and racked up 1,394 points, the most ever by a left wing in NHL history.

A ninth-round draft pick in 1984, he was inducted into the hockey Hall of Fame earlier this month.

"I was very fortunate to live my dream," the soft-spoken Robitaille told the council at City Hall after receiving an official proclamation from the city. “It’s been a great ride to live in Los Angeles."

Robitaille retired as a player in 2006 and now serves as the Kings’ president of business operations.

After receiving the City Council honor, Robitaille made another big splash at City Hall. He adopted the city’s “dog of the week,’’ a mutt from the city animal shelter that Councilman Herb Wesson brought in to encourage pet adoptions.

-- Phil Willon

Photo: Luc Robitaille today in a ceremony at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Credit: Courtesy of the Kings.

Luc Robitaille to be honored again; Alec Martinez sent to Manchester

Luc Robitaille, who was inducted into the hockey Hall of Fame last week, will get another honor Friday.

Robitaille, the Kings' president of business operations, is scheduled to receive a Los Angeles City resolution in Council from Councilman Bernard C. Parks at City Hall. The Kings will have their own celebration on Dec. 5, when they give away commemorative Robitaille bobbleheads to fans attending their game against St. Louis at Staples Center.

The next day, Robitaille will be honored again during a gala at Club Nokia, across the street from Staples Center. The gala will benefit the Echoes of Hope foundation, a charitable organization run by Robitaille and his wife, Stacia.

The Kings had a day off Thursday, but a minor personnel decision was announced. Defenseman Alec Martinez, who sprained his ankle in the season opener and disappeared after that, was activated off injured reserve and assigned to Manchester (N.H.) of the American Hockey League.

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Luc Robitaille. Credit: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images

Luc Robitaille to appear on "The Jay Leno Show"

Luc Robitaille is having quite a week. The former King -- now the club's president of business operations -- was inducted into the hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, and on Thursday he will be a guest on "The Jay Leno Show."

He's scheduled to appear in a segment called "Extreme Johnny." 

The segment will feature the Leno show's resident IT expert, Johnny Montoya, playing goal and attempting to stop shots from Robitaille, who bested NHL goaltenders 668 times over a 19-season career.

The show will air at 10 p.m. here.

-- Helene Elliott

Robitaille thanks parents, fans, in touching Hall of Fame acceptance speech

Luc Robitaille started to thank his mother, Madeleine, and father, Claude, early in his hockey Hall of Fame acceptance speech, then paused as he looked out into the audience.

"Don't cry, dad," he said, seeing tears roll down Claude's face. "You're going to make me cry."

Luc didn't cry, but his heartfelt acceptance speech Monday night did stir emotions.

He thanked his youth coaches and the King scout who persuaded the organization to give this slow-footed kid a chance. The Kings chose him 171st overall in 1984 and the rest, as they say, was history. He went on to become the highest-scoring left wing in NHL history with 668 goals and 1,394 points.

"I was on one list. There was one person that believed in me," he said of scout Alex Smart. "Thank you for giving me a great life."

He also thanked a slew of former teammates, "all the fans, especially the fans in L.A.," and former Kings owner Bruce McNall, especially for "giving me a chance to play with my idol," Wayne Gretzky.

He also thanked current owner Phil Anschutz, Kings governor Tim Leiweke and General Manager Dean Lombardi. "With the help of Dean we will have the Stanley Cup in L.A.," he said.

More from the induction ceremony later at www.latimes.com/sports

-- Helene Elliott in Toronto

Wayne Gretzky: Robitaille "made himself a Hall of Famer"

Some high praise for Hall of Fame inductee Luc Robitaille came Monday from the highest of all sources: Wayne Gretzky.

Gretzky, limping after having a knee scoped to repair an injury he suffered while playing tennis, played with Robitaille in Los Angeles and again in New York and said he enjoyed both stints.

"I've known Luc since he was 17, with the Hull Olympiques," Gretzky said. "I’ve said this before, with Rocket Richard, Mike Bossy, Guy Lafleur and Mario Lemieux, there’s nobody who wanted to score more desperately than Luc Roitaille. He made himself a hall of famer."

Gretzky downplayed rumors that he might avoid the ceremony out of protest of his treatment by the NHL in the resolution of the Phoenix Coyotes' bankruptcy. Gretzky stepped away from his coaching job in September but is still owed about $8 million.

"I’m here to enjoy this and enjoy the night. It’s my time to sit back and enjoy my kids," he said. "The game is bigger than any one individual or person. It’s not part of my life now and it’s as simple as that."

More from the center of the hockey universe on Hall of Fame day

Before I get back to the Hall of Fame inductees and what they had to say at the news conference hours before the ceremony, I’d like to mention the winners of the Elmer Ferguson award for excellence in hockey writing and the Foster Hewitt award for excellence in broadcasting.

The writing winner was Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, whose sense of humor has never deserted him through some dark times covering the Penguins or, more recently, the good times. He covered Luc Robitaille during the season Robitaille played for the Penguins, and had glowing praise for him. “Luc’s career was a testimony to focusing on what you can do instead of what others tell you that you can’t do,” he said.

The broadcast winner was John Davidson, long a commentator on New York Rangers’ telecasts as well as telecasts in Canada and national U.S. networks, and now president of the St. Louis Blues. J.D.  explained the game without talking down to anyone, and brought a wealth of knowledge to every minute he spent on the air. Worthy winners, both.

Luc Robitaille gets Hall of Fame ring; will he get a chance to see Wayne Gretzky tonight?

On the morning of his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame and after getting the ring that’s awarded to each honored member, Luc Robitaille was again reminded of the obstacles he had surmounted to become the all-time leading scorer among NHL left wings.

A Canadian reporter who had written about him years ago recalled hearing of scouting reports that seriously doubted whether Robitaille would succeed in the NHL despite his high-scoring exploits with the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

“Apparently there was someone that wrote that on the report. ‘This kid will never make it because he’s slower than a Zamboni,” Robitaille said, laughing.

Ah, but where is that Zamboni now?

It’s not getting inducted tonight in Toronto. But Robitaille will be, sharing the spotlight with former players Brett Hull, Brian Leetch, Steve Yzeman and New Jersey Devils executive Lou Lamoriello.

“It was a really fast one. It was a turbo Zamboni,” Robitaille said. “It was the only one made that way.”
He can joke about it now, but he did wonder, as a youngster, if his lack of speed would hold him back.
“I do remember asking my dad, when I was younger, before I got drafted, ‘Dad, do I look really slow out there?’” he said.

“My dad was always positive and pushing me, and he said, ‘Aw, son, all I know is that when there’s a loose puck, you seem to be the first one on it every time,’ so I said OK. He said don’t worry about it and just work hard.”

All five inductees attended a news conference this morning in the Great Hall, where tonight’s ceremony will take place. It’s a splendid room with a domed, stained-glass ceiling, part of a former bank building whose vault now houses the Stanley Cup.

Among the hottest topics this morning was whether Wayne Gretzky will attend tonight’s ceremony. It has been widely speculated that he will skip the event in protest of the way he has been treated by the NHL in its handling of the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy, supposedly angry that the deal cut by the NHL to buy the franchise did not guarantee him the approximately $8 million he is owed.

Robitaille said he thinks Gretzky will attend, but Lamoriello said Gretzky isn’t sure.

“There’s no player that had a bigger impact on our league than Wayne Gretzky. “As a player his statistics speak for themselves. ... You look at what he’s done for the league. By moving to L.A., I’m a firm believer the new franchises that appeared, he had a lot to do with that. I don’t think there would be a team in Anaheim and maybe not San Jose, or it would have been way later, and people should not forget that, the kind of impact he’s had.

“No player in the history of any sport has had that kind of impact on a sport. I think he deserves to be treated well for what he’s brought for our sport. And I hope because of who he is, he should never feel it’s wrong to come to the Hall of Fame or come to the induction.

“You hate to say it because it’s not an individual sport, but he’s a stand-alone guy above and beyond everyone else because of everything that he’s done.”

More later from the inductees’ news conference and from the induction itself, at www.latimes.com/sports

-- Helene Elliott in Toronto

Click here for a classic Jim Murray column on Luc Robitaille.

Photo: Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee Co-Chair Jim Gregory, left, puts the ring on Luc Robitaille's finger in a ceremony at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Monday. Credit: Frank Gunn, AP. 

Red Wings remember Luc Robitaille

Luc Robitaille has made a lasting impression on the Kings, first during a career that on Monday will be commemorated with his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and now as the club's president of business operations.

But he also had an impact on the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he won his only Stanley Cup title in 2002.

Forward Tomas Holmstrom told Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press about the effect Robitaille had on him when Robitaille played in Detroit.

"Luc wanted to put a big, big curve in my stick, so I tried it one game and I almost got benched the first period because I was coughing up pucks left and right," Holmstrom said. "So I told him, ‘I can’t do it, Luc,’ and he kept telling me to stay with it. I didn’t.”

Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom remembers the line of Robitaille, Igor Larionov and Holmstrom as being key to the team's success.

"Luc wasn’t the best skater out there, but he knew when to be in the spots and how to get there, and he was always finding ways to score,” Lidstrom told the Free Press. "He was a pure goal scorer on probably the best fourth line that’s ever been."

More from -- and about -- Robitaille later at www.latimes.com/sports.

-- Helene Elliott in Toronto

Photo: Luc Robitaille shows off his Hall of Fame blazer at the Hockey Hall of Fame Legends Game in Toronto today. Credit: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images

Just a bunch of Hall of Famers sitting around ...

Luc Robitaille, Steve Yzerman, Brian Leetch, Brett Hull and New Jersey Devils executive Lou Lamoriello appeared at an informal fan forum at the Hockey Hall of Fame today, a relaxed moment before they plunge into the pomp and circumstance that will accompany their induction Monday.

They answered a wide variety of questions from the audience and shared their thoughts on being honored. I’ll have more on Robitaille’s journey later at www.latimes.com/sports, but here are some tidbits from this afternoon’s session with the classy class of 2009.

Robitaille was reminded for probably the millionth time that when he was drafted 171st overall by the Kings in 1994 he was chosen after a fair hockey player named Tom Glavine, who turned out to be a pretty decent pitcher. Robitaille took it with his typical good humor, saying he never became discouraged at being drafted so late.

“For me the biggest thing was I felt my name was on their list and it was for them to watch me,” he said. “I worked real hard and I never stopped trying to improve. I went back to juniors and our team [Hull of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League] had success the next two years and that really helped me along the way.”

Nothing lucky about Robitaille's career

A few things jumped to mind with the announcement that former Kings' star Luc Robitaille will be inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame.

First, it was a no-brainer honor for a player who scored 668 goals.

But how Robitaille, and others, handled the less-than-happy moments revealed a lot.

Before the season started, he and his wife helped relocate New Orleans families left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. Robitaille's reward was to endure a difficult season under Coach Andy Murray.

Murray benched Robitaille twice that season, once waiting until the last minute to tell him. Yet, the often self-absorbed Murray, who was fighting to keep his job, was more than willing to share in the moment when Robitaille scored his 551st career goal as a King to set the franchise record.

On the the play where Robitaille set the the record, Murray made sure to tell reporters afterward, "I saw how well Luc was playing, so I made sure I double-shifted him there."

Made you wonder how Robitaille managed to score the other 667 goals without Murray's help. As a tribute to Robitaille, no one in the media used that quote.

Robitaille's comments on that goal were a little different.

First, he made sure to point out, "It was a great pass from [defenseman] Mike Weaver."

Robitaille also thanked Marcel Dionne, whose record he had broken. Dionne took in Robitaille and mentored him as a rookie.

Murray was fired before the season ended. Robitaille skated the last shift at San Jose in the season finale. Afterward, among family and friends, an emotional Robitaille finally got selfish.

Tripping over the rolled-up sidewalks, trying to find a restaurant in San Jose near midnight, Robitaille's group walked into an Italian place. After being told that the ovens had just been shut off, Robitaille turned to his agent and longtime friend, Pat Brisson, and said, "Hey, Jerry Maguire, get it done."

Brisson talked the manager into opening a few bottles of wine and cooking up a couple of pizzas.

So, as the band Mando Diao once sang, "Welcome home, Luc Robitaille," the Hall of Fame has your table ready.

--Chris Foster