Larry Robinson yesterday withdrew from the Ranger coaching derby, thereby appearing to leave Herb Brooks as the only thoroughbred running in the high stakes race.
“I called Glen [Sather] to basically tell him that I’m going to step back for a year and go through with my consulting responsibilities with the Devils,” Robinson, who has a three-year deal with New Jersey, told The Post from his Florida home yesterday afternoon. “What this comes down to for me is that if I’m going to take a job as a head coach, I have to be excited about it, and after everything I went through last season, I’m not really excited about coaching right now.
“The year took a lot out of me, mentally. I think I need the time away. It was productive for Jacques [Lemaire] when he did it, and I hope it will have the same effect on me.
“I would like to be a head coach again, that is my career goal, but my heart just isn’t in it right now.”
If Robinson is out, Brooks remains very much in, even as Sather’s fact-finding mission continues with interviews of young candidates such as Dave Tippett. Indeed, unless something unforeseen develops within the next couple of days, it appears likely that the GM will offer Brooks – who will command a contract worth between $1.2-1.5 million per – the job by the weekend.
Though not necessary, it would be helpful for Sather to have his coach in place and attending the organization’s week-long scouting and personnel meetings that will commence Sunday in Palm Springs.
Robinson, meanwhile, is planning on working next year with Devils’ prospects in Albany and throughout the organization as he ponders the future.
“When I came back to work as an assistant with Kevin [Constantine], I thought maybe that was kind of what I wanted to do, but it really wasn’t,” he said. “With John Cunniff being ill, I came back out of a sense of loyalty and obligation, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed doing.
“Unless it’s an unusual situation where I’d be working with a friend of mine, like I did with Jacques and Robbie [Ftorek], I’m not thinking in terms of being an assistant coach. When it’s time, I want to be a head coach.
“As a matter of fact, I told Glen that if there’s an opening again, to please not count me out.”
Thing is, if there’s an opening again in the near future – unless Brooks, who will turn 65 on Aug. 5, wins the Cup and retires immediately thereafter – it’s likely to be accompanied by an opening in the GM’s office, as well.