Cowan: Canadiens legend Larry Robinson rooting for Lane Hutson to break his record
Hall of Famer Larry Robinson is cheering for Lane Hutson to break his record for most assists by a Canadiens defenceman in a season.
Heading into Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS), Hutson had 63 assists with four games left in the regular season. Robinson had 66 assists in 1976-77 when he also set a record for most points in a season by a Canadiens defenceman with 85, including 19 goals.
“I hope he does break the record,” Robinson, now 74, said over the phone Wednesday from his winter home in Florida.
“It’s a record I didn’t even remember I had, so it’s OK,” Robinson added with a laugh.
Robinson set the records for most assists and points by a defenceman during a season in which the Canadiens posted an incredible 60-8-12 record with a plus-216 goal differential before going on to win their second of four straight Stanley Cups. Guy Lafleur won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer with 56-80-136 totals and linemate Steve Shutt ranked third in the league with 60-45-105 totals.
“(Hutson) plays all the power plays and I didn’t play all the power plays,” Robinson recalled about that 1976-77 season. “Some of them I played as a forward, but Guy Lapointe played most of the power plays and I was more of a penalty-killer and I’d get on maybe as the second group on the power play. I played with Serge (Savard) that whole year as my partner.”
Robinson said he loves watching Hutson play.
“I watched him play last year, too, and I thought he was pretty special then. But I believe he’s playing a more complete game now. He defends well. Everybody said he’s too small and this and that. Yeah, well, he may be, but he’s an extremely intelligent player and he makes up for it in his smarts what he lacks in size.
“That play he made on (Nick) Suzuki’s goal?” Robinson added about a goal with 20.1 seconds left on the clock that tied the score 3-3 before the Canadiens beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 in a shootout Tuesday night. “He just took off like a torpedo. Just bing, bing, bang! And he’s got his head up and he sees the ice well. He makes great passes. He’s the total package. If he can stay healthy he’s a great one.”
When I suggested to Robinson that the 5-foot-9, 162-pound Hutson is too small to have played with the Canadiens back in the 1970s dynasty era when they had to face the Big, Bad Bruins and the Broad St. Bullies in Philadelphia, he disagreed.
“Oh, sure, he could have,” Robinson said. “Good players like that with those type of hockey skills … you don’t teach hockey smarts. It’s got to be in your DNA. I don’t think he would have had a problem playing with us because he would have been surrounded by people who were going to protect him.”
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Robinson would have been one of those guys.
Possibly as Hutson’s partner on defence?
“I would have loved to play with him,” Robinson said.
At age 22, Hutson is too young to know much about the Canadiens’ legendary Hall of Famers like Robinson. Hutson’s father, Rob, was born the same year Robinson set the assists and points records.
The same applies to 25-year-old Cole Caufield, who went into Thursday’s game one goal shy of becoming the first Canadien to hit the 50-goal mark since Stéphane Richer scored 51 goals in 1989-90.
“As much as you always want to keep your records, it’s kind of neat that someone is coming up and stirs up old memories like this,” Robinson said about Hutson. “So I’m all for that. Records are made to be broken and I’m just happy it’s a nice young kid like Lane who’s doing it.”
Head coach Martin St. Louis was a month shy of his third birthday when the Canadiens and Robinson ended that 1976-77 season by hoisting the Stanley Cup after sweeping the Bruins in the final.
“I’m proud of what the players are becoming, the milestones they’re getting close to,” St. Louis said about Hutson and Caufield. “Proud to be part of that and seeing it front and centre. With all that said, I’m almost more proud of the people they are than the players they are. I hope they get to do that and I’ll be the first one to congratulate them.”
After practice Wednesday in Brossard I sat beside Hutson in the locker room and asked him what he knew about Robinson.
“Not a ton, honestly,” he said with a sheepish smile.
That’s understandable.
“I just think I’m lucky and fortunate that I get to play for this organization that’s so storied,” he added.
After Thursday’s morning skate I told Hutson I had spoken with Robinson, who said he could have played back in the 1970s and that the Hall of Famer would have loved to be his defence partner.
“That’s pretty cool,” Hutson said with a big smile. “I don’t know if I would have been able to play back then, but it’s cool to hear that.”
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