Kings Need Robinson to Make Defensive Difference in ‘89-90

If anyone can empathize with what Larry Robinson is going through these days, as he makes the transition from Montreal Canadien to Los Angeles King, it’s Wayne Gretzky.

He went through it last year.

And as Gretzky points out, Robinson was with Montreal a lot longer than he was with Edmonton.

For 17 years Robinson was synonymous with the Canadien defense. Montreal was the only National Hockey League team he ever played for. All those All-Star appearances. All those Stanley Cup rings. Always as a Canadien.

But he will be wearing a white with silver and black sweater when the Kings open the season at the Forum tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Asked during the Kings’ training camp at Hull, Canada, about the sentiment involved in leaving the team he had loved for so long, Robinson said: “Sentiment doesn’t carry you to the grocery store or take care of your family. That’s why we all wear numbers, so that when we’re gone, they can put another player in the jersey.”

Professional hockey is, after all, a business.

It’s a reality that hit Gretzky like a slap shot to the face a year ago.

But Gretzky has managed to change his allegiance, and so, no doubt, will Robinson.

It just takes a little time.

Gretzky said: “I’m much more relaxed now. Last year, the first day of camp I felt like I was going 100 m.p.h. and not going anywhere. Now, I’m much more at home. I feel a lot more comfortable.”

He looks much more relaxed and comfortable.

And he’s, oh, so glad, to share the blinding limelight.

Gretzky is going to be deluged by fans and reporters during the first few games of this season, until he scores 14 points and breaks Gordie Howe’s National Hockey League scoring record.

But once that’s in the record books and he can get down to the business of day-to-day hockey, Gretzky is counting on league-wide interest in the Soviets and league-wide interest in Robinson to at last put an end to the questions he faced all last year about being traded away from the then-champion Edmonton Oilers.

Robinson strode into a press room during training camp and took a seat at the table beside Gretzky, right in the midst of an audience with the Great One.

As Robinson sat down, Gretzky stood up with a sigh of relief.

“Where was he last year?” Gretzky said with a smile as he headed for the exit.

How many players would have the confidence to step into Gretzky’s spotlight like that? Only a player with about 17 years in the league, with that much success, with about six Stanley Cup rings.

Robinson is also expected to share dressing room and on-the-ice leadership roles with Gretzky.

The Kings are hoping that Robinson will have the same Pied Piper effect on the defense that Gretzky had on the offense last season.

With Gretzky, the Kings--always a strong offensive team--led the league in goals scored. Bernie Nicholls had a club-record 70 goals himself, becoming the fifth player in the NHL to score that many in a single season.

But the Kings also gave up a lot of goals--more than any other teams except Toronto, Winnipeg, Quebec and Pittsburgh.

The Kings took a big step toward cutting down their goals-against average when they traded with the New York Islanders late last season for goalie Kelly Hrudey.

Recognized as one of the best goalies in the league, Hrudey came to the Kings in time to play 16 regular-season games. He had a record of 10-4-2 and a goals-against average of 2.90. He went 4-6 in the playoffs--while checking into and out of the hospital because of the flu--and his goals-against average in the playoffs went to 3.71.

Over the summer, the Kings sought to get Hrudey some defensive help, starting with Robinson.

“I’m excited about playing with Gretzky, but I’m ecstatic about playing with a team that I think has a chance to bring the Stanley Cup to Los Angeles,” Robinson said.

Asked if he didn’t feel a lot of pressure, having his named linked with Gretzky’s and, therefore, linked with the pressure of L.A.’s high expectations, Robinson said: “You don’t come up through 17 years with the Montreal Canadiens without getting used to pressure. I like pressure. Whatever they ask of me, I’ll try to do it.”

They’re asking him to inspire the defense.

The Kings also signed Barry Beck, once an outstanding defenseman with the Rangers. Beck, who has a long history of shoulder separations, was brought out of retirement to add his strong touch to the defense.

The offense got some help, too, during the off-season with the addition of Mikael Lindholm of Sweden.

Lindholm will be the right winger on Gretzky’s line, with former Oiler linemate Mike Krushelnyski on the left.

The Kings really like knowing who they will be playing with, a luxury they didn’t have last season when Coach Robbie Ftorek kept playing musical linemates with them.

Setting four lines has made the new coach, Tom Webster, a very popular fellow with the Kings.

Nicholls will be with Luc Robitaille and Dave Taylor; Steve Kasper will be with Keith Crowder and John Tonelli, and Hubie McDonough will be with Bob Kudelski and Jay Miller.

As Webster puts it, those lines are not chiseled in stone.

But Webster discussed that checking line with Tonelli over the summer and left it alone all through the exhibition season. Same with the Nicholls line.

Gretzky experimented in training camp to see if his own style and Lindholm’s European style would mesh as well as he thought. They did. Lindholm started on Gretzky’s right and stayed there.

There was some shuffling of left wingers, but everyone seems happy with Krushelnyski on the line.

Not much question that line will work. The question is how well the Kings will play defense, and whether Robinson can do for the Kings what he did for Montreal.

King Notes

Tonight’s opener against Toronto, beginning at 7:35, will be shown live on Prime Ticket and broadcast on KLAC (570). . . . Wednesday, the Kings traded defenseman Dean Kennedy to Buffalo for a fourth-round draft pick in 1991. . . . Although team doctors have cleared Dave Taylor (pinched nerve) to practice, he is not expected to play tonight. In his absence, Jim Fox is skating on the line with Luc Robitaille and Bernie Nicholls.

* NHL PREVIEW: Page 6