Robitaille in New York

[GMR]

Why didn't he last longer with the Rangers? I know his goal scoring numbers went down considerably during his time in the Eastern Conference, but he still put up decent offensive numbers for both Pittsburgh and New York.

I will give the Penguins credit for trading him and Samuelsson for Zubov and Nedved (a dumb trade for the NYR). Of course, the Penguins then traded Zubov for Kevin Hatcher (arguably an even dumber trade), but we've discussed that in another thread.

However, why didn't the Rangers keep Robitaille around longer? Trading him for a train wreck like Kevin Stevens made no sense. Was there some expectation that Stevens would revive his career and kick his bad habits? Did Robitaille ask to be traded back to LA? Or do we just chalk it up to terrible management by the NYR around that time in general?

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[The Panther]

Yeah, good question. As Robitaille had turned 31 and his stats were down a bit, maybe the Rangers just thought he was in decline. However, as Stevens was coming off a much worse season in L.A. (on top of his personal issues), and was a year older than Robitaille, you'd have to wonder what the Rangers were expecting, exactly. That was the same summer they dumped Messier, so were they trying to get rid of a bunch of high-priced contracts...? (Not usually a concern with the 90s' Rags.)

Robitaille did just okay his first year back in L.A. (under Larry Robinson), but then he had three superb seasons in a row from '98 through '01, scoring 112 goals, which is 7th best over those three years and only 2 goals behind Kariya for 1st among all Left Wingers. The Kings almost took down Colorado in 2001. Then another 30-goal season in Detroit (with little ice time) and finally he wins a Cup. Lot of gas left in the tank from 1997.

My guess is: terrible management by NYR!

 

[GMR]

Yeah, good question. As Robitaille had turned 31 and his stats were down a bit, maybe the Rangers just thought he was in decline. However, as Stevens was coming off a much worse season in L.A. (on top of his personal issues), and was a year older than Robitaille, you'd have to wonder what the Rangers were expecting, exactly. That was the same summer they dumped Messier, so were they trying to get rid of a bunch of high-priced contracts...? (Not usually a concern with the 90s' Rags.)

Robitaille did just okay his first year back in L.A. (under Larry Robinson), but then he had three superb seasons in a row from '98 through '01, scoring 112 goals, which is 7th best over those three years and only 2 goals behind Kariya for 1st among all Left Wingers. The Kings almost took down Colorado in 2001. Then another 30-goal season in Detroit (with little ice time) and finally he wins a Cup. Lot of gas left in the tank from 1997.

My guess is: terrible management by NYR!

The Zubov trade alone would be enough evidence of that. He was a point per game player and was a relatively young defenseman. Also, Nedved turned into a good player for Pittsburgh. A terrible trade to make.

Robitaille's goal scoring numbers definitely took a weird dip when he wasn't in LA. I don't know what to attribute that to. It's not like he didn't have good teammates in the Eastern Conference. Still, he deserved better than to be traded for Kevin Stevens.

 

[The Panther]

Robitaille's goal scoring numbers definitely took a weird dip when he wasn't in LA.

Yes and no. He joined the non-Mario Penguins for the short Work-Stoppage 1995 season, and he was 2nd to Jagr with 23 goals in 46 games, which is really good in a season when everyone's numbers were down (he was 14th in the NHL, which is about the same as the previous year with L.A.). Also, 7 goals in 12 playoff games (and the best plus/minus on the club).

A bit sub-par in New York, but that was a weird team too. Was Ray Ferraro his centreman the first year? Only 12 goals at even-strength in 1995-96 is hard to explain (for comparison, Messier had 32).

His second year in New York, the team was entering a long decline and I think injuries slowed him down a bit. I dunno, maybe Colin Campbell just didn't click with him.

 

[GMR]

Yes and no. He joined the non-Mario Penguins for the short Work-Stoppage 1995 season, and he was 2nd to Jagr with 23 goals in 46 games, which is really good in a season when everyone's numbers were down (he was 14th in the NHL, which is about the same as the previous year with L.A.). Also, 7 goals in 12 playoff games (and the best plus/minus on the club).

A bit sub-par in New York, but that was a weird team too. Was Ray Ferraro his centreman the first year? Only 12 goals at even-strength in 1995-96 is hard to explain (for comparison, Messier had 32).

His second year in New York, the team was entering a long decline and I think injuries slowed him down a bit. I dunno, maybe Colin Campbell just didn't click with him.

I forgot that Robitaille is one of your favorites.

His numbers in 1996 and 1997 were not bad, but underwhelming when taken in context. As you know, 1996 was a great offensive year around the league. He didn't share in that trend as you pointed out. In 1997, the Rangers were 4th in goals scored and had the best powerplay in the league. However, Robitaille scored 5 powerplay goals in 69 games that season. How does that happen when you're a powerplay specialist playing on the best powerplay in the NHL? Maybe he was playing injured. I don't remember. Hopefully, someone who followed the team closely that year will chime in.

Yes, they declined after that season, but that year itself they were really good offensively.

 

[blood gin]

Well he was getting up their in years, the NHL was trending towards the dead puck era, his skating (which was never any good) started to decline even more. Eventually he would find his game again in LA where he was more comfortable, the NYR and Pitt years were sort of career crossroads where he got lost in the shuffle and needed to make the proper style/conditioning adjustments in order to stick in the league longer

 

[Speedtrials]

Definitely wish the Rangers would have kept him and Messier for a few more years. While they probably would have not been a cup contender, they would have had a much better chance at having a transition to a new core. (York, Johnson, Klouchek, Sundstrom, Savard, Cloutier). Instead we got the Dark Ages 97-2004 which were just awful.

 

[blogofmike]

Robitaille scored 5 powerplay goals in 69 games that season. How does that happen when you're a powerplay specialist playing on the best powerplay in the NHL?

When the PP is strong there's the possibility of limited playing time. The Rangers had 2 defenders on the PP so Gretzky, Messier, Graves, Kovalev, et al will take up spots.

Gretzky, Messier, Graves, and Sundstrom could take faceoffs and Robitaille didn't. Plus there were a million left handed shots on the team.

Under Colin Campbell, the same forwards weren't out for every powerplay (Leetch was the only constant), and PP time is tight. Gretzky was the assists leader that year and was out only 65% of the time. Robitaille was out for 38%.

And, of course, while the Rangers had the #1 PP in the NHL, they also had the lowest number of PP opportunities.

All in all, I wouldn't read too much into the low PPG total. Luc had a good year, and I was definitely upset to see Robitaille gone for Stevens. At least they didn't give Stevens a Lucic contract.

 

[tony d]

Robitaille also had a good playmaking year in 95-96 with twice as many assists that year as he did goals. For me seemed like he was way better in LA than in the other teams he played with.

 

[NYR94]

Robitaille for Steven's was so bad. At least Luc regained his goal scoring touch in LA.

 

[The Panther]

Robitaille gets nailed pretty bad by Kevin Hatcher here, early in Luc's second year in New York... Ouch!: