The Inducted - Luc Robitaille - 11-09-09

It's not every day a former member of the Penguins gets inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Even if he was only in Pittsburgh for one season (a lockout-shortened one at that), Luc Robitaille was a member of the Penguins. And he gets the call to the Hockey Hall of Fame today.

To say the least, Robitaille was a long shot to make the NHL, let alone, the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Kings took him as the 171st overall pick in the 1984 draft. Little did the Kings realize they would be drafting two future hall-of-famers that day. The other was skinny forward from Concord, Mass. named Tom Glavine. The eventual all-star pitcher for the Atlanta Braves was actually chosen 69th overall, 102 spots ahead of Robitaille.

After being drafted, Robitaille spent two prolific seasons with the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL. Despite putting up 148 and 191 points respectively in those seasons and being named the Canadian Major Junior Player of the Year in 1986, Robitaille was still seen as a long shot to make the NHL.

He proved all his doubters wrong his first season with the Kings as he scored 84 points (45 goals, 39 assists) and claimed the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. Robitaille became a fixture on the left wing and would be a major part of what was arguably the best era of Kings hockey in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Wayne Gretzky came to Hollywood and immediately found someone worthy of riding shotgun. As Gretzky continued to set NHL scoring records in his new surroundings, Robitaille set his own marks by eventually becoming the highest scoring left winger in NHL history.

Following Los Angeles' first and only trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 1993, the Kings slipped the following the season and missed the playoffs entirely. Robitaille's game slipped as well. He set career highs in 1992-93 with 125 points (63 goals, 62 assists). In 1993-94, those totals dipped to 86 points (44 goals, 42 assists).

The following offseason, he was sent to the Penguins in exchange for rugged right winger Rick Tocchet and a second-round pick. Even if his numbers were pedestrian by his standards (42 points in 46 games), Robitaille was a natural fit for the high-flying Penguins. In addition to giving them another offensive weapon, he also brought a high profile as he got a speaking role in "Sudden Death" the dreadful movie project of former team owner Howard Baldwin.

Aside from the challenging role of playing himself, Robitaille's most prominent moment as a Penguin came at the expense of the Capitals. As Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals went to overtime tied, 5-5, the Penguins were on the brink of elimination. The Capitals had a 3-1 lead and one goal would end the Penguins' spring. That where Robitaille stepped in with a little help with the most unlikely of sources, Francois Leroux:

Robitaille's goal past the stick of Jim Carey saved the Penguins' season and eventually led them to come back and claim the series, 4-3. Imagine that. A player cementing his legacy as a Penguin against the Capitals in the playoffs.

Robitaille was nearly a point-per-game contributor for the Penguins that postseason as he had 11 points in 12 games but the Penguins would get trounced in the next round by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Devils and that would bring Robitaille's brief career as a Penguin to an end. In an effort to re-tool the franchise in the 1995 offseason, Robitaille was dealt to the Rangers along with defenseman Ulf Samuelsson in exchange for forward Petr Nedved and defenseman Sergei Zubov.

Like so many aging all-stars, Robitaille's career kind of hit a rut in New York. He battle injuries for much of his two seasons with the Rangers and was eventually traded back to the Kings in the 1997 offseason in a deal that brought his former Penguins teammate, Kevin Stevens, to New York.

Robitaille continued to battle injuries in Los Angeles and scored a career-low 16 goals in 1997-98. Robitaille would rebound in 1997-98 as he had three consecutive seasons of 30 or more goals and helped lead the seventh-seeded Kings to an upset of the second-seeded Red Wings in the 2001 postseason.

Despite the numerous personal accomplishments of his career, Robitaille's NHL resume was incomplete. He did not have a Stanley Cup ring. So in the 2001 offseason, he joined the Red Wings and he won the Cup in his first season with Detroit.

Robitaille would spend one more season in Motown before returning to the Kings where he would hit the 20-goal mark once more before retiring at the conclusion of the 2005-06 season.

Robitaille's statistics:

Robitaille will become the 18th person with ties to the Penguins to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

(Photo: Penguins-John Heller/Post-Gazette; Kings-Photobucket)