Larry Robinson names the best player he ever faced
And shocker; it's not Wayne Gretzky
Larry Robinson
Larry Robinson is a retired Canadian defenceman who won six Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens and finished with the best career plus minus figure in NHL history. Robinson played 1,384 regular season games for Montreal and the Los Angeles Kings between 1972 and 1992, won the Norris Trophy twice and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1978, and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995. Robinson later coached the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup in 2000.
| Position | Defenceman |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 June 1951, Winchester, Ontario |
| Drafted | 1971, second round, 20th overall, Montreal Canadiens |
| Teams | Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings |
| Career totals | 1,384 games, 208 goals, 750 assists, 958 points, 793 penalty minutes; 227 playoff games |
| Honours | Six Stanley Cups as a player, Norris Trophy 1977 and 1980, Conn Smythe Trophy 1978, Hockey Hall of Fame 1995 |
| Known for | Montreal's Big Three and never finishing a season with a minus rating |
| After playing | Head coach of Los Angeles and New Jersey, Stanley Cup as New Jersey's coach in 2000 |
How many Stanley Cups did Larry Robinson win?
Robinson won six Stanley Cups as a player, all with Montreal, in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1986. He then won more without playing: as an assistant on the New Jersey Devils staff in 1995, as head coach of the New Jersey team that won in 2000, as an assistant again in 2003, and as a member of the St. Louis Blues hockey operations staff in 2019. Ten championship teams in total had Robinson somewhere on them.
Why was Larry Robinson called Big Bird?
Robinson stood 6 foot 4 and weighed around 225 pounds, with curly fair hair, and teammates settled on Big Bird after the Sesame Street character. The nickname was affectionate and slightly misleading. Robinson rarely fought, and 793 penalty minutes across twenty seasons is a low figure for a defenceman of that size in that era, but opponents who ran at him did not usually try it twice. One hit of his destroyed the boards and was still being discussed years afterwards.
Larry Robinson's plus minus record
Robinson finished with the best career plus minus figure in NHL history, and he never had a single minus season in twenty years. His lowest rating was plus one, in his final season in Los Angeles in 1991-92, and his highest was plus 120 in 1976-77, the year Montreal lost eight games in total. Sources differ slightly on the exact career total, so the record is better described than quoted: no player has finished a career further ahead.
Larry Robinson and Montreal's Big Three
Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe made up the defence corps Montreal supporters called the Big Three, and it is the central argument for the 1970s Canadiens as the strongest team ever assembled. Robinson was the physical one and the one who carried the puck out of trouble, Savard was the escape artist, Lapointe the shooter. All three went to the Hall of Fame. Robinson has also named the best player he ever had to defend against.
Larry Robinson's career stats
Robinson played 1,384 regular season games, scoring 208 goals and 750 assists for 958 points, with 793 penalty minutes. Montreal drafted him 20th overall in 1971, and he spent seventeen seasons there before three with Los Angeles from 1989 to 1992. He added 227 playoff games and 144 playoff points. One number is worth correcting while we are here: a career penalty total in the 1,800s circulates in places, and 793 is the figure that holds up.
Larry Robinson's individual trophies
Robinson won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman twice, for 1976-77 and 1979-80, and the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff most valuable player in 1978. The Hockey Hall of Fame inducted him in 1995. The trophy cabinet understates him a little, because his value sat in the things the box score never counted: the first pass, gap control, and twenty years of being the player the other team's best line had to get past. Patrick Roy credits Robinson with the advice that changed his career.
Larry Robinson as a head coach
Robinson coached the Los Angeles Kings from 1995 to 1999, then took over the New Jersey Devils late in the 1999-2000 season and won the Stanley Cup within weeks. He returned to the New Jersey bench in 2005, and spent long stretches as an assistant and consultant with New Jersey, Montreal, San Jose and St. Louis. Robinson's one liner about Wayne Gretzky, whom he coached in Los Angeles, says most of what you need to know about his tone.
