Mike Robitaille

Mike Robitaille (born February 12, 1948, in Midland, Ontario, Canada) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks. Currently, he works as a studio analyst on Buffalo Sabres hockey broadcasts on the MSG Network with Rob Ray and Kevin Sylvester.

Robitaille played in 382 regular season NHL games, scoring 23 goals and adding 105 assists. He was most well known for his punishing hip checks. He also appeared in 13 playoff games, six with Buffalo and seven for Vancouver, tallying one assist. His career ended pre-maturely in 1977 when he was blind-sided by Dennis Owchar of the Pittsburgh Penguins, which caused nerve damage in his neck. He would later win a lawsuit against the Canucks for mistreating his injuries.

Robitaille was one of the founders of Hockey Hotline, the Buffalo Sabres' postgame show on Empire Sports Network, in 1991 and has worked for the Sabres and various sister outlets ever since. He is known for his colorful analogies and exaggerations.

In recent years, Robitaille has been the fill-in commentator whenever Rick Jeanneret, Jim Lorentz, or Harry Neale cannot fulfill his duties on a gameday broadcast.