Robitaille first attracted notice playing for the
Ottawa Jr. Senators of the
CJHL. While not drafted by an NHL team, he was offered a scholarship at
Miami University on the basis of his offensive totals. After two solid seasons at Miami, he was signed by the
Boston Bruins of the
NHL on March 17, 1997. After playing one game straight out of college, he played the next two seasons for the Bruins'
AHL affiliate, the
Providence Bruins, while playing a few games for the Bruins in between. He also helped Providence to their first
Calder Cup win in 1998–99 while winning the
Les Cunningham Award as the league's
MVP. On June 25, 1999, the Bruins traded Robitaille to the
Atlanta Thrashers for
Peter Ferraro. His stay in Atlanta did not last long as they quickly traded him to the
Nashville Predators for
Denny Lambert on August 16, 1999. While in Nashville, he played mainly in the
NHL, only having a few brief stints with the
Milwaukee Admirals. In fact, he spent a whole season in the
NHL during the
1999–2000 NHL season, a career first. However, following the
2000–01 NHL season, the Predators chose not to re-sign him. The
Los Angeles Kings signed him as a
free agent on July 7, 2001. Midway through
that season, he was claimed by the
Pittsburgh Penguins off
waivers on January 4, 2002. Although he played in Pittsburgh for two seasons, he would never play one complete season in the city, as they traded him to the
New York Islanders on March 9, 2003, for a draft pick. He completed the
season for the Islanders, they chose not to re-sign him, so he became an unrestricted free agent for the first time. On August 12, 2003, he signed a contract that returned him to the
Atlanta Thrashers. During the
lockout, he played for
Zurich of
Nationalliga A, becoming the league's top scorer and league MVP, beating out Joe Thornton and Rick Nash for both awards. Following the ratification of the
NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, he again found himself with the
Nashville Predators, having signed a contract with them on August 19, 2005. However, they assigned him to
AHL on October 3 and the next day he was claimed off waivers by the
Minnesota Wild. After playing the whole season there, he again found himself a free agent. On July 4, 2006, Robitaille signed a one-year contract with the
Philadelphia Flyers. He returned to the Islanders on December 20, 2006, along with a fifth round draft pick for
Mike York. When unsigned at the beginning of the
2007–08 season, he chose to sign to play in Russia. After several games, he resigned from the
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team and was signed by the
Ottawa Senators on October 16, 2007, for one season. On August 23, 2008, Robitaille returned to Europe and signed as a free agent to a three-year contract with Swiss team
HC Lugano. After a disappointing campaign in 2008-09, Robitaille rebounded nicely in 2009-10, becoming the league's top scorer. However, following a poor playoff performance in which HC Lugano was swept in the first round, Robitaille was informed in April 2010 he was no longer in the Club's future plans, despite him being under contract for the 2010-11 season. He is not related in any way to former NHL players
Luc Robitaille,
Mike Robitaille or
Louis Robitaille. ==Career statistics==