Luc Robitaille on Kopitar's brilliance, 'minimizing' McDavid, and more

In one way, Friday was a typical day for Luc Robitaille.

To start off, the Los Angeles Kings president embedded with the hockey operations staff, running through the playoff roster ahead of the 47-25-10 Kings' first-round date with the Edmonton Oilers. (The series starts Monday in Edmonton.) Robitaille had media responsibilities to close out the morning. Then, in the afternoon, his schedule featured "a lot of meetings" about the club's local TV future in the wake of Diamond Sports Group's bankruptcy.

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In another way, Friday was atypical because Robitaille was hoping to cut it short. Usually booked seemingly all hours of the day, he instead wanted to be at home with family one last time. The grind of playoff travel was approaching.

"I won't be home for the next two months," said the affable Robitaille, letting out a short laugh. "That's the hope, anyway!"

Robitaille, 57, has overseen the hockey and business departments for the Kings since 2017. Undoubtedly, he and general manager Rob Blake - both iconic Kings players of previous eras - are the organization's most influential figures in trying to reconstruct a Stanley Cup-caliber roster.

The Kings, Cup winners in 2012 and 2014, are attempting to win a third championship with longtime cornerstones Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. So far, so good in terms of making the postseason cut in consecutive years.

Robitaille - or "Lucky Luc," as he was nicknamed during a Hockey Hall of Fame career - spoke with theScore on Friday about retooling the roster, Kopitar's brilliance at center, shutting down Connor McDavid, and more.

(This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)

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theScore: Even at 35 years old, Anze Kopitar's in the conversation for best two-way center in the NHL. Why and how? What do you see day-to-day that's keeping him at such an elite level in his 17th season, all with the Kings?

Robitaille: It's incredible how he's still the same player he was 10 years ago. He seems to have not changed his pace, the way he plays. From his first day playing in the NHL, he's always been a 200-foot player.

You know how Patrice Bergeron is revered and viewed on the east coast? If you were to flip-flop those two, if they were to change places, I think Kopitar would get the same love as Bergeron.

If you talk to every player in the NHL, they'll tell you, 'He's a really hard player to play against. He's heavy. He plays both ends. He plays PK, PP.' He still plays 22 minutes a game most nights. His discipline to stay in shape - he's so committed to the game, with his offseason workouts seemingly getting better every year. It's pretty amazing those two guys are still doing it at their age.

You're right. Whether it's counting stats or advanced stats, Kopitar's right up there. One thing that jumped off the page for me: Kopitar's taken only two minor penalties in 2022-23. That's impressive, considering the strength of opponent he faces and, as you noted, his heavier style of play.

He leans on guys. He's heavy. It is amazing that he's basically had no penalties. It's kind of crazy ... (laughs)

The other thing no one is talking about: The day we put Adrian Kempe with Kopi, Adrian Kempe became a 35- and 40-goal scorer. Then we put Quinton Byfield with Kopi and suddenly everybody's going, 'Ah, I can see Byfield's coming into his own now!' Kopi's our safety net to help the trend of our team.

A young player can gain confidence simply by lining up beside somebody like Kopitar, right? You attach the young player to the responsible veteran and life's easier. Pucks start going in and it all builds from there.

Yeah. You're right about that. But, also, I was talking to someone the other day about how lucky we feel. Let me explain: When you have Kopitar on your team, it's so easy to teach the young guys how to play responsibly. If they see one of the team's best players doing all of the little things day in and day out, no matter what, they can't come in and say, 'Well, that's just not the way I play.' No, they know Kopi's won, and they know he's won playing a certain way. Next thing you know, they're a little bit more responsible.

It's funny, there's some irony in it for us. Kevin Fiala's an incredible player. He's had a huge impact on our team. But early in the year, he'd make some risky passes we weren't used to seeing. We would be like, 'Whoa, what's up with that pass right up the middle?' And then, over time, Fiala has remained the same impactful player, but it sure seems like he got rid of 50% of those risky passes.

He's still producing, right, but I think the rest of it has a lot to do with guys like Kopitar playing the right way all the time. If you're a player and you're smart, you go, 'Oh, that's what makes him so special! If I can play like him a little bit, it'll help the team even more.'

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The Drew Doughty-Mikey Anderson pairing - why is it so effective? And what was so appealing about Anderson to warrant an eight-year extension?

The biggest thing for us is trust. When you watch Mikey play, you never think about him. You just trust him. He gets the puck and makes the right play. He closes plays down low. And he's a great partner for Drew as somebody who gives Drew a little bit more freedom. Mikey will always, always back Drew up.

It's been such a great pairing for us, and that's why it was also so important for us to get another left-handed defenseman before the trade deadline. We wanted four guys who we can really trust. But it starts with Mikey and Drew playing the way they do together.

A few years ago, the Kings shifted toward a retool around Kopitar, Doughty, and goalie Jonathan Quick. There had been an emphasis on getting faster and younger. ... As far as a timeline on the retool, are you where you thought you'd be in 2023?

Internally, we always wanted to be pushing for the playoffs last year and this year, knowing that once you get in, you can beat anyone. We certainly feel like, because of the way we play, we can beat anyone. The playoffs are a hard road. You have to be locked and loaded and healthy to start. We feel that way.

That being said, we know if everything goes our way this year and we win, we really feel we're going to be better in two years. We have some young guys coming up, and we still have room for them, and it's only going to make our team better in the future.

I suppose that's the beauty of hitting on many of your draft picks. You don't have a bunch of prospects blossoming at once. It's a steady flow.

They trickle in over time. And, if there's anything we've learned, it's to be patient. With Adrian Kempe, it took him six years to start scoring goals. (laughs)

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What do you attribute to Kempe's ascension? He isn't a flash in the pan.

He was always a really good player, but he wasn't shooting much. He wasn't creating much offensively. But the whole time he had the defensive skills, which can be very hard to get. We never worried about him defensively. And we knew he could skate. So, in our zone, the guy never hurt us.

He was playing center and some games we'd put him on the wing. Somehow, he found a way to get open more often and shoot more often. And his creativity with the puck got better.

We have a kid now who's similar to Kempe. He's not a shooter like Kempe, but with Rasmus Kupari, when we look at him, we remember Kempe in his first three or four years. They're great skaters, they never hurt you defensively, and you have to just wait for them to come into their own offensively.

You faced the Edmonton Oilers in Round 1 last year. Ditto this year, starting Monday. What needs to happen for L.A. to win this time around?

We know we can match up against anybody. We have to play our game. It's going to be really hard to do that when you have two of the best players in the world on the other team. They're hungry, too. So, it's about minimizing their scoring chances, and then when we get our chances, putting them in.

I really feel like the Oilers got better this year. But so did we, you know? So, I think it's going to be a really good series. There won't be a lot of room out there. You'll have to create room. We all know how good their power play is, so it almost goes without saying that you don't want to give them too many opportunities there. But we're certainly creating a big rivalry with them, and it's going to be a great series.

We've beaten them twice this year, and they've beaten us twice. We thought we outplayed them in one of those losses. So, it's going to be a show, I think. (laughs)

You played with and against Wayne Gretzky. With that in mind, how do you gameplan against a generational talent like Connor McDavid? Do you sink your teeth into the video, or is it more so about shadowing him or, at least, doing your best to keep up with him as far as skating speed?

If you're going to have a guy shadow Connor McDavid, he better skate faster than him, and I don't think anyone in the league can do that. (laughs)

So, I think it's more about playing the right way as a team. You're trying to minimize McDavid's scoring chances. He's going to create one or two chances a period on his own, but you certainly don't want to give him a free one. We went to Edmonton earlier this year, played a really good game, and then put it right on his stick for a breakaway. You can't do that. He has to earn every chance, and he will get some chances because of who he is.

You just have to keep playing, and it's the old cliche: Keep the puck in their zone as much as possible. But I do really believe they got better. So, we know it's going to be a lot of work for us to keep it in their zone. Mattias Ekholm was a great move for them. Even Nick Bjugstad, he's brought in a little size. Trust me, it's not going to be easy.

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How have you felt about the Kings' two trade deadline additions - defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goalie Joonas Korpisalo - and how they've mixed into the group since March? Thoughts on the on-ice fit?

They both have fit in perfectly on our team. Korpisalo has come in and given us stability in the net. We've had Pheonix Copley play really well since December, and now Korpisalo's here, and he has this real calming attitude about him. He's been really, really good.

And then for Gavrikov, we always talked about getting that second-layer, left-shot D-man who can really stabilize our team. He's done that, and more. Him and Matt Roy give us an opportunity to cut down a couple of minutes with Doughty so that Drew is a little bit more rested. But that Gavrikov-Roy pairing has been a really hard pair to play against. Gavrikov has a long stick, long reach, and we couldn't be happier about what he's done for us so far.

One last one. Back to Gretzky. Beyond the obvious - all-time speed - what are the similarities and differences between Connor and Wayne?

Wayne was smaller and skinnier, so every team before every game would say, 'You have to run him. You have to hit him. You have to check him.' They did everything.

When you play against McDavid, you pay attention to him. It's incredible the speed he brings. And his vision is a lot like Wayne's. Still, I can't believe Wayne got 200 points! That's basically 50 more than McDavid! (laughs)

When you put that in perspective, you start thinking, man, how great was Gretzky? And Mario Lemieux, too. It's crazy. But here's another thing: I remember people saying Wayne's shot wasn't great, this and that. Then he scored 92 goals. And last year we've got people saying, 'Yeah, McDavid's good but he doesn't score as many goals as he should.' And then you see this year he gets 64.

It just shows how these guys want to get better every game, every year. McDavid's got a lot of the same drive as Wayne. Every shift, every shift. And you saw it last year in the playoffs, where McDavid really took his game to another level. You can tell the kid has a lot of personal drive.

You have to give him credit for what he's done so far in his career. He's a superstar, and he's fun to watch every night.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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