Carolina Hurricanes’ new addition Eric Robinson finding his place, making most of chance

Eric Robinson arrived for the Carolina Hurricanes game last week in a light gray suit, white shirt and dark tie. At 29 and a Princeton University graduate, he easily could pass for a young associate at a major law firm.

On his lapel: a pin with two silver doves taking flight.

Robinson’s path to the Hurricanes has been a circuitous one, tinged both with personal sadness and professional challenges. But there he was last Thursday, again playing on a line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Martin Necas in the Canes’ 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And scoring. In the third period, Robinson went to the front of the net to tip in a pass from Necas, who extended his point streak to eight games as the Canes won their eighth straight game.

Soon, the postgame Storm Surge was in motion at the Lenovo Center, the Canes celebrating another win, Robinson smiling and clapping his hands and enjoying another chance with another team.

Robinson was signed to a one-year, $950,000 contract by the Hurricanes on July 1, a free-agent transaction that smacked as much of “depth forward” as someone now playing on the Canes’ second line with Necas, who has been on one of the NHL’s most torrid heaters early in the season.

“Coaching against him, when you talk about players you don’t know, you coach against him and it’s like, ‘Who is that guy?’ and why is that guy always showing up on the little things?” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday. “Those are the guys you identify and if the chance comes that you can pick him up, you definitely try to.”

Undrafted by NHL teams, Robinson signed with Columbus after four years of college hockey at Princeton — and getting a history degree — and put in parts of seven seasons with the Blue Jackets. But the last was the toughest.

Robinson was placed on waivers. He was sent down to the Cleveland Monsters, the Blue Jackets’ AHL team. In early December, he was traded by Columbus to the Buffalo Sabres for a conditional 2025 seventh-round draft pick.

“I had a tough year,” he said. “On waivers, traded, scratched. It was a tough year.”

And would get a lot tougher.

Left behind in Columbus was one of Robinson’s best friends from childhood through college hockey and into the NHL, Johnny Gaudreau.

Robinson and his older brother, Buddy, grew up playing hockey with Johnny and his younger brother, Matthew, in southern New Jersey. The Gaudreaus’ father, Guy, coached the Gloucester Catholic High program in Gloucester City that included his sons and the Robinson brothers.

In a 2022 interview with Jeff Svoboda of BlueJacket.com, Guy Gaudreau said of the Robinsons: “Both would come over and stay at my house, they played hockey at my house, they’d stay for four days at a time. We couldn’t get rid of them”

When Johnny Gaudreau signed a seven-year, free-agent deal with Columbus in July 2022, it reunited him with Eric Robinson. The buddies were back together and teammates — until last season and Robinson’s departure to Buffalo.

Then, the unimaginable.

On Aug. 29, the Gaudreau brothers were back in New Jersey to attend their sister’s wedding. They went out biking together and both were killed when struck by a suspected drunken driver.

Robinson, understandably, cannot bring himself to talk about the tragedy, about the loss of lifetime friends. He has tried, but it’s still not the time.

Robinson did post a photo of himself with the Gaudreaus from their junior days on his Instagram account, writing, “I am completely heartbroken and at a loss for words. I love and miss you guys so much already.”

That silver lapel pin, with the two doves? That’s a tribute to them, Robinson said, and one he will wear for every game.

Robinson finds it much easier to talk about hockey, about the Canes, about his line.

Robinson began the season playing on Jack Drury’s line with rookie Jackson Blake, but Brind’Amour switched up the lines to create more balance and moved the 6-foot-2, 211-pound Robinson to left wing on Kotkaniemi’s line opposite Necas.

“I think we have some defined roles and ‘Nechy’ is on fire right now,” Robinson said. “(Kotkaniemi) is a really solid center man who is solid in the D-zone and able to break pucks out. I just play my game and contribute any way I can.

“Obviously it’s clicking right now.”

Robinson smiled when asked about Necas’ quickness, shiftiness and the ability to stickhandle through traffic at full tilt.

“I always knew about his skill and shot but his speed … I didn’t know how fast he was,” Robinson said. “Seeing that in person and watching him wind it up is fun to watch. I thought I was fast until I started playing with him.”

Playing for Brind’Amour has been beneficial, Robinson said.

“It’s either buy in or … that’s really the only option,” he said, smiling.

Robinson grew up following his brother’s hockey path. He said he was able to play in youth tournaments in Lake Placid, New York, in what’s now the Herb Brooks Arena and the scene of the “Miracle on Ice” Olympic win by the U.S. in 1980.

“That was cool. It was always fun to go up there,” Robinson said.

Buddy Robinson, 33, played for four NHL teams and now is in his second season playing with Russian club Traktor Chelyabinsk in the KHL. His younger brother apparently has found a niche with the Hurricanes, his plus-10 plus/minus rating in the first 12 games among the team’s best.

“He’s really adopted how we want to play and been a good fit for us,” Brind’Amour said.