When Robbie Ftorek finished his NHL playing career and became a coach, he stressed the team concept, even when he was the bench boss for the L.A. Kings and icon Wayne Gretzky. In this story from 1988, writer Al Morganti profiled where Ftorek was when he was running the Kings' things.

As a player and coach at the NHL level, Robbie Ftorek made his mark on hockey’s top league. And in this cover story from THN’s Nov. 25, 1988 edition (Vol. 42, Issue 10), then-THN-contributor Al Morganti wrote a profile of Ftorek when he had the privilege of coaching the greatest player ever in Wayne Gretzky.

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Ftorek played 334 regular-season games in the NHL before becoming a coach in the AHL in 1985. After leaving the AHL, Ftorek was named coach of the Los Angeles Kings in 1987 and lasted two years with the Kings before leaving in 1989. And he had his share of detractors – most notably, with longtime NHL defenseman Jay Wells.

“Robbie Ftorek is digging his own grave,” said Wells in the 1988 article, a 10-year NHL veteran who played for the Kings under Ftorek before moving on to Philadelphia in the season Morganti’s story was published. “If he doesn’t wake up soon, he’s got to be gone.”

When Gretzky became a King, Ftorek wanted to mold him along with the rest of the team as just one component of L.A.’s game plan for success. But that didn’t sit right with Wells.

“(H)e was going to pretend...that Wayne was just another player,” Wells said of Ftorek. “From the stories that I heard (while still with the Kings), Robbie Ftorek thought that he could win the Stanley Cup without Wayne Gretzky. I think he started the season thinking that he was going to prove it — that he didn’t need a guy like Wayne Gretzky to win the Stanley Cup.”

Ftorek may have played the “all-players-are-equal” line with Gretzky, but that was because as a player, Ftorek was a prodigy as well.

“He was the Wayne Gretzky of his era,” then-Bruins public relations director Nate Greenberg said of Ftorek. “Today, he would be universally regarded as a No. 1 pick overall in the draft, but in his time element it never even came up. American high school players just weren’t considered.”

According to then-Flyers defenseman Mark Howe, Ftorek was always his own man, and that continued on throughout his coaching career, which ran through the 2018-19 season.

“He was always very intense,” Howe said of Ftorek. “He seemed quiet, but you could tell he was intense. I remember we were driving to a practice with another player. The other guy took the wrong exit ramp, and backed out into the highway.

“Robbie just got out of the car and walked. He would never drive with the guy again. That’s the way he was. If he didn’t like it, that was that. He had his set of standards. He had his way of doing things, and that was that.”

MISTER INTENSITY

Vol. 42, No. 10, Nov. 25, 1988

By Al Morganti

Robbie Ftorek is tired of the question being asked. Again and again, the question is posed about coaching Wayne Gretzky, and his answer is the same.

He wants to be known as head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, not the coach of Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings. He tells everybody Wayne Gretzky is just a piece of the puzzle.

“A bigger piece, the biggest piece for sure,” he said, “but still just one piece of the puzzle.”

Now, the rest of the hockey world is puzzled. After all, with one amazing off-season trade, Robbie Ftorek inherited the world’s greatest hockey star. Yet, there is no evidence he sprained his wrists doing handstands in celebration.

In fact, there are those who believe Ftorek wasn’t thrilled with the acquisition of Wayne Gretzky.

“Robbie Ftorek is digging his own grave,” said Jay Wells, a 10-year NHL veteran who played last season for the Kings under Ftorek, and is now with the Philadelphia Flyers.

“If he doesn’t wake up soon, he’s got to be gone.

“Maybe Robbie Ftorek got a lot of points in the WHA, but Robbie Ftorek is no Wayne Gretzky. I don’t even think the two names should be used in the same breath.

“Wayne Gretzky is all class. Ftorek? Huh. The day that Wayne Gretzky was traded there must have been the worst day of his life.

“He hid. He hid for a month. I was listening, I was reading. I never saw one quote…I personally don’t think he wanted him, and I think he’s showing it right now. I think he’s crazy.”

Like some others, Wells thinks Ftorek should be showing off Gretzky, and not trying to blend him into an existing system. And like some others. Wells thinks that Ftorek ought to just tell Gretzky to go out and do his thing, and let everything else fall into place.

“He’s got to wake up sooner or later,” said Wells, “and he’s got to say: ‘It’s great to have Wayne here. He’s going to make my job that much easier.’

“But I think he knew that his days were numbered. He was going to come into training camp and not try to change anything. Just like he’s saying, he was going to pretend — just like he’s saying — that Wayne was just another player.

“From the stories that I heard (while still with the Kings), Robbie Ftorek thought that he could win the Stanley Cup without Wayne Gretzky. I think he started the season thinking that he was going to prove it — that he didn’t need a guy like Wayne Gretzky to win the Stanley Cup.”

According to Kings’ owner Bruce McNall, Ftorek’s days are most assuredly not numbered. And according to members of the Kings, Wells’ viewpoint is a minority opinion.

“You cannot tell me that Robbie Ftorek is unhappy they traded for that guy (Gretzky),” said goalie Glenn Healy, who pointed out Wells was comfortable in Los Angeles after nine years and could be bitter about his departure.

Ftorek was given a sampling of Wells’ remarks, but refused to be drawn into any mudslinging.

“Jay Wells is entitled to his opinion, like everybody else,” said the 36-year-old coach. “Of course I was excited to get Wayne Gretzky, It’s ridiculous to think I wouldn’t be, but that is not going to change my personality.

“My approach to this sport has always been team, team, team. And that’s what it remains. That’s the biggest frustration I have with all the questions.

“I tell people that Wayne Gretzky is just one member of the team, and they think I’m not being truthful.

“I’m not lying to anybody. I tell them we’ve got 20, or 21 or 22 players, and that Wayne is one of them. And they ask the question another way.

“That’s what gets me frustrated. I answer the question, and they just ask the question another way.”

Ftorek told a story about a Quebec reporter who wanted to do a story on the real Robbie Ftorek some years ago. After serving as Quebec’s first English-speaking captain, Ftorek was traded to New York, and during their first road trip into Quebec the reporter cornered Ftorek.

“I asked him if we hadn’t done enough interviews,” said Ftorek, “and he said we had, but now he wanted a story about the real Robbie Ftorek. I just looked at him.

“I couldn’t believe it. I asked him if he thought I’d been lying to him all those years. I told him I wasn’t smart enough to lie to him. What I had told him before is what I thought. I don’t hide anything.

“It’s like that now. You ask me if Wayne Gretzky is a special player. I’ll tell you, ‘Yes, he is.’ But there are a lot of very special players. I don’t like to single out anybody.

“And one of the many great things that Wayne has done here is draw attention to the play of some of the other members of our team. With Wayne here, more people can see some of their talents.”

In many ways, Ftorek’s rigid coaching style is a carryover from his days as a player. Despite the notion that Ftorek just popped up off a beach wearing a sweater — his hockey fashion statement — he has a distinguished background.

He was a high school phenom at Needham High School in Massachusetts.

Ftorek scored 118 points in 23 games during his senior year, and 28 points in four state tournament games. In the final game at Boston Garden, the attendance was reported as a sellout of 13,909, but many insist the crowd was more like 18,000. Ftorek might very well have drawn the biggest hockey crowd in Boston’s history.

“There is no underestimating just how big a star he was,” said Nate Greenberg, the Boston Bruin public relations director who watched Ftorek throughout his high school career.

“He was the Wayne Gretzky of his era. Today, he would be universally regarded as a No. 1 pick overall in the draft, but in his time element it never even came up. American high school players just weren’t considered.”

Ftorek was also a soccer star of legendary talent. The story went that when first introduced to the game, Ftorek wanted to play goal. He didn’t exactly know the rules, so when he made his first save, he took the ball, swerved through the entire field, and kicked in a goal.

The coach looked at him and said, “You are a goal-scorer.” He went on to lead his club to a state title in that sport, too, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 championship victory.

Ftorek, the proud son of a carpenter, should know something about dealing with superstars.

“I never looked at the newspapers, even then,” said Ftorek. “But when I was moving from Cincinnati, I came across a box of old scrapbooks that my mom had put together. I read the stories.

“You can go and look at them. What I was saying then is the same thing I am saying now — the team is the most important thing.”

Ftorek played for five seasons in the World Hockey Association, collecting 523 points in 373 games. The 5-foot-10, 155-pound center was named the league’s most valuable player for 1976-77 — despite playing for the last-place Phoenix Roadrunners. He scored 117 points that season. In 1978-79, he earned 116 points and was one of four players to outscore Gretzky, then an 18-year-old rookie with Edmonton.

Although Ftorek was never as big a star in the NHL as in the WHA, he did score 227 points in 334 games, with Detroit, Quebec and the Rangers.

“He was always very intense,” said Flyers’ defenseman Mark Howe, another veteran of the WHA. Howe’s association with Ftorek goes back a long way — all the way to the 1972 U.S. Olympic team when they were roommates.

“He seemed quiet,” said Howe, “but you could tell he was intense. I remember we were driving to a practice with another player. The other guy took the wrong exit ramp, and backed out into the highway.

“Robbie just got out of the car and walked. He would never drive with the guy again. That’s the way he was. If he didn’t like it, that was that. He had his set of standards. He had his way of doing things, and that was that.

“And he was also way ahead of his time in some things. He was always into nutrition. Back then, most of the guys would have a case of beer in their room, but Robbie would have baskets of fruit.”

Howe also saw him as an opponent in the WHA.

“He wasn’t a superstar,” said Howe, “but he was a real good player. He stacked up some numbers, the way a lot of guys did. He had a lot of ice time, and I remember we were playing in Phoenix one time and he got two points when he was still sitting on the bench. I can definitely attest to that first hand.

“Some of the points he didn’t deserve, but he was a tough competitor, kind of like Bobby Clarke, I guess. You know, not the greatest skills, but at the end of the night, he was right there chasing you.

“A lot of determination.

“He used to have this move: He’d come at you 1-on-1, and throw the puck between your legs, and take his stick and run it up right by your head, to try to kind of shy the defenseman away.

“Well, when he was playing in Phoenix he did that to my brother Marty and he cut him. Then he went to Cincinnati, and he did the same thing, and ended up scraping Marty’s eye.

“I remember we were at the hospital with Marty and my dad (Gordie Howe) said: ‘Once is a mistake, twice is a no-no.’

“I guess it was about a month later we were playing and Robbie was coming in to score, and Dad was the back checker on the other side. Dad just took his stick and whack, right across the face, on purpose.

“He got guys ticked off like that.”

According to Wells, he is now getting players ticked off by his deployment of personnel, and the way he treats the players.

“It’s high school,” said Wells. “I mean, he had his own opinion and that was that.

“Whatever you said, it was always wrong. It was always ‘Do it my way, or do it no way,’ and he loved to play his favorites.

“Not to bad-mouth any players, but in key situations he’d have guys out there that were hard workers, but not goal-scorers. You’d need a big goal, and he’d be sitting Luc Robitaille.”

Wells said Ftorek is selective above being collective.

“…This team thing,” Wells said, “let me tell you about that. Every year we used to have a funny team picture. You know, in tuxedos, on a boat, whatever.

“Last year we were going to do it, and he decides he doesn’t want to do it. He just doesn’t want to show up. He thought it was dumb, so he didn’t show up.”

Healy defended Ftorek. The goalie said he was among several players who didn’t want to participate in last year’s funny photograph, because he feared it would perpetuate myths about hockey in California.

Ftorek, who coached the American League’s New Haven Nighthawks from 1985-86 until his elevation to the Kings early last season, insisted he is open to all suggestions.

Point.

“Right from Wayne Gretzky to the trainers,” said Ftorek, “we listen to them all. We’re here to win hockey games. If we think somebody has a good idea, we listen. We’re a team.”

Counter-point.

“He wants guys who don’t say anything,” said Wells. “He wants guys who will do whatever he says, because he thinks he’s God.”

Kings’ captain Dave Taylor disagreed strongly with his ex-teammate.

“Robbie Ftorek isn’t a dictator by any stretch (of the imagination),’’ said Taylor. “I think he’s a player’s coach. He seems to be very open.

Sometimes, said Healy, the players have more than a share in the decision-making process. At a recent practice, Ftorek left it up to the players to decide upon an itinerary for an upcoming road trip. During training camp, Ftorek quietly sent Healy home to be with his father, who was undergoing a triple heart bypass operation.

As for Ftorek’s interaction with Gretzky, Taylor said the coach and No. 99 often discuss strategy — particularly about power-play and penalty-killing tactics.

Gretzky, himself, has indicated support for Ftorek, but reminded reporters the fourth-year professional coach is still in the formative stages of a new profession.

“I think Robbie is a good coach. I like Robbie,” said Gretzky. “I think everybody goes through growing pains…You get experience from participating. I happen to think he’s a smart hockey man.”

Addressing the sticky issue of his ice time under Ftorek, Gretzky said people don’t realize that in Edmonton, he routinely played only about 20 minutes a game during the regular season. During the playoffs, he said, that total would increase to about 30 minutes.

With the Kings, Gretzky clearly has a prerogative extended to no other player. He often stays out long after his linemates have gone to the bench.

Bernie Nicholls, who is enjoying his best season ever, said he has seen improvement in Ftorek’s handling of the team.

“I think I’ve seen a big change from last year to this year,” said Nicholls. “I think he’s coached a lot better this year.”

The versatile forward has no quarrels with his coach. “This year I’m playing as well as I ever have,” said Nicholls, “and he’s playing me all the time. And we’re winning. And that’s the bottom line. So how can I say anything bad towards the guy?”

“On any team there are players who aren’t happy,” said Taylor. “And I’ll say that about our club too. There are some guys who aren’t real happy — mostly guys who aren’t playing regular.”

There is, said Taylor, something “different” about Ftorek. But he is hard-pressed to articulate just what it is. Nothing, however, marks Ftorek as “different” more than the intensity he brings to his work.

Ftorek said he was so focused as a player there were only three or four occasions during his entire career when he was not at the top of his game. As a coach, he’s tried to keep that same intense focus — a focus which other people might interpert as tunnel vision.

“When I was a player,” said Ftorek, “I had to get my rest for two reasons; First, just to replenish energy, and second, I used that time to visualize.

“I would visualize scoring the winning goal, or winning a big face-off, or making a big defensive play. I would visualize, because if I got into that situation, I would feel that I already would know what to do. I wouldn’t have to waste time thinking, I had already been through it.

“Now, as a coach, I try to do the same thing, and there are a lot more situations to visualize.”

This much is certain: it’s a lot easier to visualize the Los Angeles Kings winning the Stanley Cup with Wayne Gretzky than without.

And a lot of people are waiting for Robbie Ftorek to get excited about that. 

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