Cool hand Luc

Lucky Luc Robitaille? Hardly. Despite his low stock in the 1984 draft and numerous jabs at his skills, the ever-evolving winger has become a picture of how to score goals.

Luc Robitaille is laughing so hard over the telephone that you can almost see the tears welling up in his eyes. "Tom Glavine was drafted before me," Robitaille says between fits of laughter.

Tom Glavine, the pitcher? The guy who won the National League's Cy Young Award last season?

"Yeah, him," Robitaille says. "He's a great pitcher. But he went in the fourth round, and I went in the ninth. We were both drafted by the Kings the same year. I mean, that's funny."

When he was drafted in 1984, there were scouts who thought he'd never amount to anything. Even after being named the NHL's rookie of the year in 1987, Robitaille was labeled a poor skater. Then he was the poor skater who couldn't cover a hat rack. Defense, it was roundly agreed, was never going to be a Robitaille trademark.

But here he is, 12 seasons later, soon to be 33 and still the Kings' top scorer. More important, his two goals against Buffalo on January 7 gave him 500 for his career, which ranks him among such scoring greats as Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Jean Beliveau.

For a left winger who supposedly can't skate, can't check and most definitely doesn't pitch like Glavine, Robitaille is a model of scoring consistency. The man called Lucky has 25 goals already this season.

"I've done some different things this year," Robitaille says. "I've changed the lie in my stick so I can get my shots up quicker. The goalies now are all so big and they like to go down a lot. It helps if you can raise the puck faster. I changed my whole workout, too. In the summer, I gained 10 pounds (on a 6-1 frame, to weigh 205). Every guy in the league weighs 220, 230. I had to get stronger to compete with them."

When he arrived in Los Angeles in the summer of 1986, Robitaille was so far down the depth chart it's a wonder the Kings' media department spelled his name correctly. Recognizing he needed help, Marcel Dionne took rawboned Robitaille into his home and let him stay in a spare bedroom that rookie season.

Robitaille watched Dionne, who went on to rank third on the NHLs all-time goals list with 731, and learned from him--how to be in position to score goals and how to anticipate and survive. And yet, the lesson that has stuck the longest with Robitaille is the one he learned from Los Angeles forward-turned-television commentator Jim Fox.

"One day, Jim had hurt his knee and he was upset," Robitaille says. "He looked at me, and he started yelling: `You're 20 years old. Enjoy the moment. Don't ever take anything for granted. You won't believe how quick it goes.'

"I saw Jim recently, and I told him he was fight. It's all gone by so quickly."

A check of the NHL record book shows just how quickly time has flown. It was 11 years ago that Robitaille played in his first of seven All-Star Games (he played in his seventh last Sunday in Tampa). It was six years ago that he had a career-best 63 goals before scoring 22 points in 24 playoff games as the Kings reached the Stanley Cup finals. And it was five years ago that he scored in the overtime shootout to give Canada its first world championship gold medal in 33 years.

The funny thing is, for all his successes, Robitaille has a hard time thinking of himself as one of the NHLs great scorers. Just last week he looked at a list of the league's 500-goal club and was taken aback by the names and their greatness.

"I saw Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur, and I said, `Wow.' I never thought I was going to be ranked with players like that. I try to get better every day. I'll do whatever it takes to play. That's my goal. That's why I'm still here."

500 CLUB

When Luc Robitaille scored his 500th goal, he became the 27th player and seventh active player with 500 goals. Here are the active players in the 500 club:

                            Current
Player            Seasons    team       Goals

Wayne Gretzky      20th     Rangers      992
Mark Messier       20th     Canucks      610
Dino Ciccarelli    19th     Panthers     608
Steve Yzerman      16th     Red Wings    582
Brett Hull         14th     Stars        570
Dave Andreychuk    17th     Devils       528
Luc Robitaille     13th     Kings        503

Player            Comment

Wayne Gretzky     Took him less than eight full season to score
                    500.
Mark Messier      Has one Stanley Cup for every 100 goals scored.
                    Not bad.
Dino Ciccarelli   All those garbage goals but no Stanley Cup.
Steve Yzerman     Sacrificed offense and captained Wings to two
                    Cups
Brett Hull        Closing in on family record. Dad Bobby had 610
                    in NHL.
Dave Andreychuk   With his size, he become effective around the
                    crease.
Luc Robitaille    Not the biggest guy, but always seems to find an
                    opening.