During his 19-season NHL career, Robitaille won the Stanley Cup in 2001–02 with the Detroit Red Wings, and played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, but is most known for his 14 seasons (over three different stints) with the Los Angeles Kings.
[8] He scored 45 goals and had 39 assists in 79 games,[3] edging out Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall for the Calder Memorial Trophy for the NHL's top rookie,[9] the only Los Angeles player to ever win the award.
[3] After one season, Robitaille was traded to the New York Rangers (alongside Ulf Samuelsson) in exchange for Petr Nedvěd and Sergei Zubov.
[3] On August 28, 1997, in new general manager Dave Taylor's first move, the Kings re-acquired Robitaille from the Rangers in exchange for Kevin Stevens.
In the 2000–01 playoffs, Robitaille helped the seventh-seeded Kings to a first-round upset of the Detroit Red Wings, and his team took the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche to seven games in the conference semifinals.
With the Red Wings' 3–1 victory in Game 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes, Robitaille's quest for an elusive Stanley Cup championship finally came to an end.
Robitaille then had the lowest goal total in his career in 2002–03, due partially to limited ice time, and the Red Wings were upset in the first round of the playoffs by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in a four-game sweep.
[5][19] On January 19, 2006, during a game against the Atlanta Thrashers, Robitaille scored a hat-trick, tying and passing Marcel Dionne's then-franchise record of 550 goals.
Robitaille officially confirmed this the next day in a press conference held at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California.
[citation needed] Robitaille's final goal and point was scored in typical Luc Robitaille fashion: one-timing a pass from Jeremy Roenick while at the centre of the right wing face-off circle past goaltender Curtis Joseph during a power play in a March 14, 2006, 6–2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.
Robitaille played his final NHL home game as a Los Angeles King against the Calgary Flames on April 15, 2006.
[21] He was also the second shooter in the shootout, but his shot towards the upper-right corner of the net was stopped by the glove of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, despite being given an open five hole.
The Kings held a curtain call for Robitaille after the game, where he was given a standing ovation by the sell-out crowd of 18,118 fans in attendance.
[citation needed] The Kings honored his playing career by retiring his number during a pre-game ceremony on January 20, 2007.
Robitaille's number 20 hangs in the rafters of Crypto.com arena alongside those of Rogatien Vachon, Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, Wayne Gretzky, Rob Blake, and Dustin Brown.
[25] Robitaille has won three Stanley Cup championships, in 2002 as the member of the Detroit Red Wings, and in 2012 and 2014 as president of operations with the Los Angeles Kings.
[citation needed] On July 6, 2006, Robitaille was named president of the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League (USHL).
In the first five shots, Robitaille and Joe Sakic scored for Canada, but Jari Kurri and Mikko Mäkelä responded for the Finns, meaning the game moved to a sudden-victory shootout.
Robitaille and his wife Stacia co-founded the non-profit charity Shelter for Serenity in 2005 to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and has extended to needy children in the Los Angeles community as Echoes of Hope.
Robitaille made a cameo appearance as himself in the 1994 movie, D2: The Mighty Ducks,[33] and voiced himself in the Phineas and Ferb episode "For Your Ice Only".