FanHouse Luc Robitaille

The NHL's Hall of Fame class of 2009 features a reunion of the Detroit Red Wings' 2001-02 Stanley Cup Championship team, and the completion of the best father-son duo in the history of the league. On Tuesday afternoon, Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Brian Leetch were announced as the newest members of hockey's most exclusive club.

New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello was also elected as a builder.

Not really any surprises here, as they make up one of the best quintets to ever enter Toronto.

Let's, for one second, take a step back from the playoff races and examine the curious world of NHL mascots.

On Tuesday, Capitals Kremlin took an off-beat and humorous look at mascots around the NHL and determined that IceBurgh, the warm and cuddly mascot of the Pittsburgh Penguins, is the most terrifying sideshow attraction in the NHL. Really? IceBurgh? That cute guy pictured above?

Here we are once again with another edition of Caption This Photo! Last night, the Avalanche and Kings played a pre-season game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It's the annual game in Las Vegas and the Avs won the game 4-3 in a shootout. But the great part in about spending the weekend in Vegas is that there is much more to do than watch a hockey game. On Friday night, members of both teams participated in the Luc Robitaille/Shelter for Serenity Celebrity Poker Tournament. It's a great charity event and also game us some interesting pictures of NHLers in front of the poker tables. Take the one above picturing Robitaille, Tony Granato and PJ DeLuca, a member of the Avalanche staff.

Here's the original caption from Getty:

LAS VEGAS - SEPTEMBER 26: (L-R) Former NHL player Luc Robitaille, Colorado Avalanche head coach Tony Granato and PJ DeLuca talk while participating in the Luc Robitaille/Shelter for Serenity Celebrity Poker Tournament at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino September 26, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Exciting stuff, right? No. Not at all. So let's see what you guys got!

I'll get us started and please leave your own captions in the comments!

Granato: Luc, you had a pair of twos! That was clearly a hand to go all-in on!

Robitaille: That is the LAST TIME that I ever take poker advice from you. Get away from me.

Granato: Now, see you've got 7-5 off-suit. You want to slow play this hand for sure.

DeLuca: Hey... Is that Jessica Biel by the craps table?

Sorry, No Photos

Yesterday, members of the Los Angeles Kings were in Burbank, California paying a visit to everyone's favorite game show, the Price is Right. They did a taping of the show that featured Luc Robitaille, Derek Armstrong, Denis Gauthier, Kyle Calder, Dustin Brown and their mascot Bailey. Drew Carey and Lucky Luc on the same stage. That's a sentence I never thought I would be able to say.

The taping was for, as you might have already figured out, a special hockey themed episode of the show. A legion of Kings fans from the website LetsGoKings.com were there and message boarder robm had a nice synopsis of what went down.

We get to the final show case, and finally, Kings. The Kings were in the first showcase. The showcase started off with Denis Gauthier asking the contestant if he wanted a punch in the face. Interesting. Then, they showed the first part of the showcase which was tickets to a game with penalty box seats during practice along with a crap load of Kings memorabilia. We could've split that among all the fans and been happy. In fact, in retrospect, I should've asked if we could've split it amongst the sixteen of us. Crap. The next portion of the prize was a trip to Switzerland for the hockey championships (next year?) and finally there was a boat. The display of the boat started off with someone (Calder?) starting a sentence and then the rest of the guys throwing him into a boat. Eventually, Army with some help was able to pull Dustin's shirt over his head. Basically, Dustin was bare chested for that part of the show case.

Mmm... Half naked hockey players. Now that's what I'm talking about. They were probably just showing off for the Price is Right models. But in all seriousness, from all accounts it sounded like a good time even though it was a long day. Did you know that the folks in the audience have to show up at 8:45 am for a 1 pm taping? Hoo boy. I can't say I could sit through that! Pictures from the day are after the jump courtesy of Getty Images.

Update (9:56 AM): Puck Daddy reports that the episode will air on November 5th.

"Lucky" Luc Robitaille, who will always be remembered as a Los Angeles King more than a New York Ranger, Detroit Red Wing, or Pittsburgh Penguin, has been given the title of "His Presidency of the Los Angeles Kings."

This promotion was earned after just one year on the job as an assistant to Tim Leiweke, the CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group. Talk about a quick promotion!

"I have invested so much of myself into this organization since I was drafted here in 1984 and I look forward to the opportunity to truly have an impact on our future success," said Robitaille. "I have gained tremendous experience this past year with AEG and the Kings and I look forward to continued growth as a business professional in this great city.

In his new role, Robitaille will oversee the day-to-day business operations of the Kings. His time will focus directly on all business initiatives as it relates to the team.

Giving Luc a role with the Kings is a no-brainer for the club, which needs to leverage Luc's movie-star good looks and love in the Kingdom of Los Angeles to help promote the club amongst the beautiful people. Robitaille is the perfect public face to put in the front office, and having him around can help the Kings market their product to a fan-base that fondly remembers the good old days when Robitaille was burying the biscuit in the basket with great frequency.

Day-to-day business operations? That seems like a large step for a guy like Robitaille. Just like Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings, Luc doesn't have much in the way of formal business training. Yet, he is expected to operate the day-to-day financial aspects of a multi-million dollar corporate entity?

At the very least, Luc has some experience to draw on. Combine the one year as an assistant to Lieweke and the fact he's been the President of the USHL's Omaha Lancers for the past year, and we can see that Luc isn't a total n00b in the business side of hockey.

Does this promotion reek of old-boys-club? Yes, it certainly does. So, let's hope the Kings continue to groom Robitaille and give him the support he'll need as he'll be in an arena where he won't be an instant star like he on the ice.

See also:
Brodeur vs. Robitaille: One Last Battle
How did Luc Robitaille get 'Lucky'?

Luc Robitaille is certainly one of the most surprising hockey stars of all time. Drafted in the 9th round and not blessed with impressive physical skills (speed and size), Luc used his smarts and wicked shot to put together a legendary career.

When most scouts and teams didn't think Luc would amount to much, Robitaille put together a career worthy of a Hall-of-Famer with 668 goals and 726 assists in 1431 games. Most of these points seemed to be due to Luc being in the right place at the right time, which led to the 'Lucky' moniker catching on quickly.

However, the origin of the nickname might surprise you, as Luc revealed to David Amber during an interesting interview conducted for ESPN.com:

Q: Who gave you the nickname "Lucky" Luc?

A: Tiger Williams did in my rookie year. We had a player on our team named Morris Lukowich and everyone would call him Luke. So every time anyone called out "Luke," we would both turn around. In my rookie year, I was living with Marcel Dionne at his house, and after my very first game, Tiger started calling me "Lucky." Guys started asking him why he was calling me "Lucky," and he said partly because of the Morris Lukowich confusion, but mostly because I was a rookie living in the biggest house on the team! Every day, I drove to practice in a Mercedes, which was Marcel's car; and I also scored a goal on my first shot on my first shift in the NHL. So that was pretty lucky. I couldn't argue with that.

In case you are wondering, Luc's pick for the cup is the rival Anaheim Ducks. (traitor!!)