The Montreal Gazette relays that there is no bitterness in Hall of Famer Larry Robinson, who a few times in the past half-dozen years has been in a contractual position to return to the Canadiens in a coaching capacity.
It is not happening again, with general manager Marc Bergevin rounded out his club's coaching staff last week; naming former Habs defenceman Jean-Jacques Daigneault as the second bench assistant for head coach Michel Therrien. Robinson's NHL career now is unlikely to end in the city where it began.
"I understand the Canadiens had to get going, they couldn't wait," he said, settling into the off-season with his wife, Jeannette.
"They decided, and they chose Daigneault. They had to move on in their task to improve their club."
It's no secret that a number of NHL clubs have expressed interest in Robinson's coaching talents. Complicating matters with the Canadiens was the fact he was unable in recent days to come north for a face-to-face interview, tied down in Florida to deal with the onslaught of Hurricane Debby and the torrential rains that overflowed his swimming pool and swamped the 12-acre polo farm he co-owns, stabling and training polo horses.
As Robinson mopped up in Florida, longtime Robinson friend and business agent/adviser Donny Cape kept in touch with Bergevin about the versatile role Robinson might play. Other teams had expressed interest in Robinson, so the Canadiens broadened their defence-coach search, casting a wider net.
Therrien apparently liked Daigneault so much, the decision was made to hire him before Robinson had a chance to interview for the job.
"Nature didn't help me get up to Montreal and have a formal discussion with them," Robinson said of the hurricane and his delay to meet, at the Canadiens' request, with Therrien. "We can speculate all we want about whether that made a difference. This was a decision they made and I have to live with it."
Robinson hears the suggestion that perhaps a hockey man of his stature, winner of nine Stanley Cups as a player and coach, might have been viewed by Therrien as a threat and would reduce the returning head coach's comfort level.
"I would have made (Therrien) feel comfortable," Robinson said, cutting off this theory in mid-sentence. "A lot of people think because I won a Cup as a head coach and coached for so long, I'm there only to watch (Therrien) fail so I can take the job myself.
"Believe me, that's the furthest thing from my mind. All I want out of the game now is the fun of working with whoever I'm working with, trying to give whatever knowledge I've gained through my experiences to help do whatever I can to make the team better to win another Cup. That's all I'm there for.
"I'm not there to threaten anybody's job. That's not the way to go through life. You have to be a pretty vindictive person if you're there, working with a guy, and you've got a big dagger in your hand ready to stab him in the back. It's not the way I was brought up and it's not the way I work."
As for the lost opportunity to return to where it all began?
"It would have been interesting maybe to get back to Montreal," he said. "But this is a business. There are decisions made by people. Things go on in everyday life as far and business and life. If you're a person who takes everything to heart and has a chip on your shoulder, you're going to be an awful miserable person."
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