NHL Hall Of Famer | From Underdog to Hockey Legend - Luc Robitaille, LA Kings President

Michael Gervais (0:00)

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Luc Robitaille (1:22)

In those days, the draft was one day. So it was a Saturday, and I think it started at 11 And I went there for the first pick. So I sat there, and then second round came, and the third round came, and the fourth round came. I never heard my name.

Michael Gervais (1:35)

What if being overlooked, dismissed as too slow, too average, was actually the foundation for becoming one of the greatest of all time?

Luc Robitaille (1:44)

And it was 7 p.m., if I recall. And at the time, it was in the ninth round. I heard my name, and I get drafted. And there were no bitterness or anything. I was not like, I'm going to show them that they were wrong. It was never that. It was, my name is on the list. It's up to me.

Michael Gervais (2:00)

Welcome back. Welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast, where we dive into the minds of the world's greatest thinkers and doers. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. And the idea behind these conversations is simple. It's to sit with the extraordinary, to really learn how they work from the inside out.

Luc Robitaille (2:18)

I know my dad had to wake me up to go to school, but he would get mad because I would wake him up to go to hockey practice. I was committed to get better every day.

Michael Gervais (2:27)

And today's conversation is something special. For the first time, we're recording live in front of an audience at the California Surf Club in Redondo Beach, California. And our guest, it's none other than the one and the only Luc Robitaille. Luc's story is the stuff of legend. You might know him as the NHL's all-time leading scorer among left-wingers, a Stanley Cup champion, a Hall of Famer, and today president of the LA Kings. His journey is a master class in resilience and leading with an attitude that refuses to quit no matter the challenge.

Luc Robitaille (3:00)

A great teammate is someone that's obviously, first of all, they gotta try to get better every day at what they do, and then they gotta help their peers get better themselves. And then what are you willing to do when no one's looking?

Michael Gervais (3:14)

As you listen, I'd invite you to reflect. Where in your own life have you been underestimated? And what would change if you defined success not by proving others wrong, but by getting better every single day? So with that, let's dive into this special live conversation with Hockey Hall of Famer and LA Kings president, Luc Robitaille.

This is great. How fun to be here with you guys. Thank you for being here to celebrate Luc and to really understand your psychology. I've spent my whole life at the beach, and you spent your whole life on the ice. So welcome to the beach here. Thank you. Yeah, for sure. Okay. So I'll tell you what I want to understand, is the moment that you were almost forgotten about. So you have this historic career that we can look back at. Can you first open up as we get going, what it was like, your draft pick? Yeah. And then, so to go from, just to set the scene for everybody, there's a moment that's pretty intense for you. And then you move from that moment to best rookie of the year. And then you transition to Hall of Fame. In between, you win a couple of championships. And then you go on as an executive that has been herald as one of the great executives. So we want to understand the transition and how you've navigated that so brilliantly. But let's start at the beginning with your draft moment.