Randy M. Robitaille (born October 12, 1975) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

player. He last played for

HC Donbass Hockey Club Donbass ( uk, Хокейний Клуб Донбас; russian: link=no, Хоккейный Клуб Донбасс, '' tr. Hokeinyi Klub Donbas'') is a Ukrainian professional ice hockey team based in Druzhkivka, currently playing in th ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

. Robitaille has previously played for nine teams in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(NHL).

Playing career

Robitaille first attracted notice playing for the Ottawa Jr. Senators of the CJHL. While not drafted by an NHL team, he was, on the basis of his offensive totals, offered a scholarship at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 1 ...

. After two solid seasons at Miami, he was signed by the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

on March 17, 1997. After playing one game straight out of college, he played the next two seasons for the Bruins' AHL affiliate, the

Providence Bruins The Providence Bruins are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the primary development team for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R ...

, while playing a few games for the Bruins in between. He even helped Providence to their first

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its cur ...

win in 1998–99 while winning the

Les Cunningham Award The Les Cunningham Award is given annually to American Hockey League's "Most Valuable Player" of the regular season, as voted on by AHL media and players. The award was first presented in the 1947–48 season, is named after Les Cunningham, a five- ...

as the league's MVP. On June 25, 1999, the Bruins traded Robitaille to the

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

for Peter Ferraro. His stay in Atlanta did not last long as they quickly traded him to the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

for Denny Lambert on August 16, 1999. While in Nashville, he played mainly in the

, only having a few brief stints with the

Milwaukee Admirals The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panther Arena. They are affiliated with the NHL's Nashvil ...

. In fact, he spent a whole season in the

during the

1999–2000 NHL season The 1999–2000 NHL season was the 83rd regular season of the National Hockey League. With the addition of the expansion Atlanta Thrashers, 28 teams each played 82 games. This was the first season played in which teams were awarded a point for an ...

, a career first. However, following the 2000–01 NHL season, the Predators chose not to re-sign him. The

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

signed him as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on July 7, 2001. Midway through that season, he was claimed by the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have play ...

off waivers on January 4, 2002. Although he played in Pittsburgh for two seasons, he would never play one complete season in the city, as they traded him to the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

on March 9, 2003 for a draft pick. He completed the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

for the Islanders, they chose not to re-sign him, so he became an unrestricted free agent for the first time. On August 12, 2003, he signed a contract that returned him to the

. During the

lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage ** Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, loc ...

, he played for Zurich of Nationalliga A, becoming the league's top scorer & league MVP beating out Joe Thornton & Rick Nash for both awards. Also making his first substantial playoff appearance in five seasons. Following the ratification of the

NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement The NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is the basic contract between the National Hockey League (NHL) (32 team owners and NHL commissioner) and the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA), designed to be arrived at through the typical labour– ...

, he again found himself with the

, having signed a contract with them on August 19, 2005. However, they assigned him to AHL on October 3 and the next day he was claimed off waivers by the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confe ...

. After playing the whole season there, he again found himself a free agent. On July 4, 2006, Robitaille signed a one-year contract with the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wel ...

. He returned to the Islanders on December 20, 2006 along with a fifth round draft pick for Mike York. When unsigned at the beginning of the 2007–08 season, he chose to sign to play in Russia. After several games, he resigned from the

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

team and was signed by the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member ...

on October 16, 2007 for one season. On August 23, 2008, Robitaille returned to Europe and signed as a free agent to a three-year contract with Swiss team

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano too ...

. After a disappointing campaign in 2008-09, Robitaille rebounded nicely in 2009-10, becoming the league's top scorer. However, following a poor playoff performance in which HC Lugano was swept in the first round, Robitaille was informed in April 2010 he was no longer in the Club's future plans, despite him being under contract for the 2010-11 season. He is not related in any way to former NHL players

Luc Robitaille Luc Jean-Marie Robitaille (born February 17, 1966) is a Canadian–American professional ice hockey executive and former player. He currently serves as president of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). During his 19-season N ...

, Mike Robitaille or Louis Robitaille.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robitaille, Randy 1975 births Living people Atlanta Thrashers players Boston Bruins players Canadian ice hockey centres Franco-Ontarian people HC Donbass players HC Lugano players Metallurg Novokuznetsk players Ice hockey people from Ottawa Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Los Angeles Kings players Manchester Monarchs (AHL) players Miami RedHawks men's ice hockey players Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players Minnesota Wild players Nashville Predators players New York Islanders players Ottawa Senators players Philadelphia Flyers players Pittsburgh Penguins players Providence Bruins players San Antonio Rampage players Undrafted National Hockey League players ZSC Lions players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Ukraine Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans