Montreal Canadiens retire Larry Robinson's #19

One of the greatest defensemen in the history of the NHL is finally getting his jersey retired. Selected three times as a First Team all-star and three times to the Second Team, Larry "Big Bird" Robinson also won the Norris trophy for the league's best defenseman twice (1977 and 1980) and was a runner-up in 1979.

Part of the "Big three" unit that included Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe, Robinson was part of the legendary and dominating Habs dynasty of the 1970s that won four straight Stanley Cups. Robinson won a total of fours cups (as well as one as coach with the New Jersey Devils in 200) participating in 227 playoff games.

Forget all that. No one messed around with Robinson to boot. Yeah, the Big Bad Bruins and Broadstreet Bullie were mauling the league, but Robinson put a few of those bums in their place with a punch or body check.

The only unfortunate thing to all this is why the Montreal Canadiens waited so long to retire his number? Not to mention Bob Gainey's #23 which they will also have a ceremony for.

They let the entire 1990s go by plus most of the 2000s. It wasn't until intense lobbying did they decide to do so. No one from the organization ever explained their reasoning- good luck trying to get them to return your calls or emails.

On this front, someone made a mistake. At least they got around to it.