Positives
I struggled to find positives for Regehr myself, so I turned to langluy, a former Jewels from the Crown writer.
@dightkwing he can probably hear really well which would have been useful had the kings been forced to play in the darkness at any time
— mean machine (@langluy) May 12, 2015
@dightkwing he did not corey potter the literal face of the kings franchise
— mean machine (@langluy) May 12, 2015
@dightkwing he retired at the end of it
— mean machine (@langluy) May 12, 2015
That about sums it up.
Negatives
Everything else. The graphic at the top of this post is pretty telling. He did nothing well and he was given far too much ice time given his limited abilities.
Here is a list of stats in which Robyn Regehr is among the bottom five on the Kings roster (minimum 500 minutes): Goals/60, Assists/60, Penalty +/-, Shooting Percentage, Scoring Chance Percentage, Scoring Chance Relative, Corsi, Corsi Relative, and basically any other measure of possession you can find.
Robyn had a rough season. There isn’t any sugarcoating this. Liking his tough brand of play or supposed defensive acumen doesn’t matter here; things just did not go his way.
We’ve written extensively about Robyn Regehr in the past. When the Kings acquired Andrej Sekera, Andrew Leafman wrote about the potential of a Regehr/Sekera pairing. Mr. Leafman also wrote about Regehr’s 2013/14 season. The ideas are pretty much the same: Regehr will drag down everyone he plays with.
Nothing changed this season. Regehr had an abysmal season when it came to driving play. He did nothing special to limit scoring chances against. Yes, he received in somewhat tough minutes – or, at the very least, in the face of very difficult deployment – but he played poorly nonetheless. In a sense, he hit all of my extremely low expectations. Congratulations to Robyn on a wonderful Kings career in clearing low bars.
Highlight
Before the Kings bowed out of playoff contention, there was hope. Hope manifested itself in an 8-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. In this game, Tyler Bunz made his NHL debut in the 3rd period of the game and Robyn Regehr welcomed him warmly.
Going Forward
I will never forget game 4 against the Blues in 2013. The Kings had just equaled the series after a wild game full of lead changes and borderline illegal physicality. Robyn Regehr turned in one of his most notable performances as a King: he played his steady, physical defensive game and even picked up an assist on the way to a 4-3 Kings win.
Kings Live had Robyn on set for a post-game interview.. I remember standing in the crowd about 15 feet from Robyn. The first thing he did after getting situated next to Patrick O’Neal was look back at the crowd. About 100 fans were still there, chanting and cheering at the top of their lungs. It was a rowdy and excited bunch that had finally seen the defending champions show up to the playoffs in a way we expected them to.
Robyn is not known for having a particularly soft gaze, but his eyes were filled with a bit more intensity than normal when he looked back and surveyed this ridiculous group of Kings fans. Maybe it was a revelation he’d slowly had, or maybe he realized it on the spot right there: he was playing for a fanbase that loved its team as much as any group he’d played for. By proxy, they loved him. It almost seemed as if he fell in love with the idea of being a Los Angeles King on the spot.
In being tough on Regehr since his acquisition from the Buffalo Sabres, I’ve always felt a tinge of guilt. Robyn seems like one of the most genuinely nice people in the game. It’s not his fault that Dean Lombardi traded for him and gave him a contract extension, nor is it his fault that Darryl Sutter played him so damn much. He simply wasn’t the player that he was advertised to be. I can’t blame him for that.
I hope that Robyn Regehr enjoys a life in which he always shuts down the opposing forward. I hope his easy-going, affable demeanor is appreciated more than his physical skills are derided. I hope that he looks back on his career and is proud of what he accomplished. I hope he never goes a day without remembering that he got to drive the got dang Stanley Cup in a got dang Ferrari.
Grade: A*.
Whatever. Screw it. I love Robyn Regehr.
*He actually gets a D. A very tough D.
What grade would you give Robyn Regehr?
| A | 11 |
| B | 21 |
| C | 30 |
| D | 19 |
| F | 11 |