1984
He was in awe as he sat on his seat in the legendary Montreal Forum. Born and raised in Montreal, he was well-educated about the legendary Montreal Canadiens and being inside the building where so many hockey legends had played and won the majestic Stanley Cup excited him. He couldn’t get rid of his genuine smile even if he wanted to due to all this excitement. A who’s who of all the top NHL prospects surrounded him. Today was not about playing hockey or even watching it inside this historic arena. Today was all about being drafted into the NHL.
Now at 18 years old, he was a fan of the Edmonton Oilers purely based on their phenomenal superstar Wayne Gretzky. The way Gretzky exploded in to the NHL and dominated it like no one else had ever done before greatly impressed him and just a few short days ago, he was at home watching Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers finally capture their first ever Stanley Cup. It was beyond inspiring. Now wouldn’t it be something if the Oilers wound up drafting him and he got to play with his idol? So far the only team that had shown any interest in him were the Los Angeles Kings where the French Canadian superstar Marcel Dionne was playing.
Leading up to the draft he was hearing that scouts weren’t that impressed with his skating ability and even though he had a natural instinct to score goals, their concern was that he was too slow and choppy on the ice with his mobility. At the NHL level, this weakness would be greatly exposed or so they were saying. Be as it may, he was going to have fun today regardless … unlike some of the other potential draftees around him. They all looked like nervous wrecks and he felt bad for them. Occasionally if he made eye contact with any of them, he would smile and nod to help ease their tension, maybe even hold up a thumbs up but it only worked on some.
Finally the draft selections commenced and with no surprise junior phenom Mario Lemieux was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Lemieux looked very angry and annoyed that Pittsburgh had picked him. He went to the stage reluctantly and refused to put on their jersey on for the photo. He found Lemuiex’s behavior very strange as he personally would have been happy to play for any team in the NHL. It’s the NHL! He made an oath to himself right there and then that whichever team in the end selected him, whether they are a contender to the Cup or not, he would go up there with the biggest smile on his face and would proudly put on their team jersey.
Potential draftees who were tense and gloomy before, now had huge smiles on their faces, relieved that they were finally picked by an organization where the opportunity to play at the highest level of professional hockey was within reach. Top junior players like Kirk Muller went to New Jersey and Ed Olczyk went to Chicago. The Montreal Canadiens were up for the fifth pick and they were well-known for going after as many French Canadien players that they possibly could get and that made him sit on the edge of his seat. This could be it! Maybe they will select him. Crossing his fingers and giving Montreal GM Serge Savard his full attention as he made his way to the podium, Savard announced that they were choosing Swedish defender Peter Svoboda. Svoboda was a player that had been playing behind the Iron Curtain and had only just recently defected away from there.
Worried about her son being disappointed at not getting selected by a team from his hometown where he could be close to his family, his mother looked at him with a comforting and sympathetic expression. He just smiled back at her to show that he was okay. It honestly didn’t bother him that he wasn’t picked by Montreal. He was just too happy to be here to let any possible disappointment bring him down. He believed in himself and knew someone was going to take a chance on him and whoever that was, he would be loyal to them.
As the day went on, more and more selections were made and the rounds went by. Edmonton selected Selmar Odelein, Daryl Reaugh and Todd Norman. The”Habs” passed him over again and selected other fellow French Canadiens like Stephane Richer and Patrick Roy while the Los Angeles Kings selected some player named Tom Glavine who apparently also played a little baseball. Finally the main portion of the draft had ended and most of the Forum had become empty. He had been snubbed but with the later rounds of the draft being conducted more privately, he still stayed optimistic. His parents, who spent the whole day there with him in the stands were more annoyed about it than he was. This made him laugh and he told them everything was going to be okay. If a worst case scenario did happen and he went completely undrafted then, “C’est le vie.” This would only make him work harder and become even more determined to make the NHL next year and give it another go at the draft.
As the family arrived home, he went to his bedroom and changed from his suit to something more comfortable. A phone rang in the background and he could hear his mom answering it. The conversation started in English but finished in French and his mom was raising her voice in excitement. She called out for her son and held out the phone, “Luc, it’s for you!”
Luc rushed to the phone and found out that the caller was the Los Angeles King’s legend and general manager Rogie Vachon. Vachon gave Luc the good news that the Kings had drafted him 171st in the 9th round! Thrilled to be going to Los Angeles andpossibly getting the chance to not only play in the NHL but to play with Marcel Dionne, Luc was on cloud nine. His dream of making the NHL was now on track to become a reality. Luc Robitaille was now a member of the Los Angeles Kings organization and that made him happy.
