(Pittsburgh) At 16, he couldn’t even make it to midget AAA training camp; he was cut off at the pre-camp. At 17, he tried his luck in the QMJHL… and was cut off. He was never drafted, neither in the QMJHL nor in the National League.
Félix Robert has often been told “no” in life, but he never gave up. Here he is today a lot closer to the NHL than many people would have predicted.
He was spoken to on Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving. On his holiday, the forward spent it with teammate Matt Bartkowski, a 256-game NHL veteran. “Eating while listening to football, there is worse than that in life! He says.
Robert and all his teammates were invited to Bartkowski’s for a team dinner with the Pittsburgh Penguins school club. With 7 points in 15 games, Robert is the team’s third scorer.
The 22-year-old Beauceron, however, has no contract with the big club, only an American League contract. He cannot therefore be called back, but when we look at the path he has taken to get there, we understand that he does not have to worry about the future.
Of course I believe in it, but I know it won’t be easy.
Felix Robert
“I go one day at a time,” said Robert, in a telephone interview. It can tumble quickly. If I am not successful, but gave it my all, I know I can be proud of myself. ”
No regrets
At 5’9 ” and 180 lbs, Robert is not exactly the build of Pierre Vercheval. “In my draft year, at 15, I was 5’3”. I was not interesting for recruiters, ”he admits.
At 16, after being cut off at the midget AAA level, he left for Quebec, in order to align with the Académie Saint-Louis, in the school network. The goal: to eventually play American college hockey. “I had put a cross on the major junior a bit,” he admits. But his work during this 2015-2016 season caught the attention of the Sherbrooke Phoenix.
“One of my scouts told me: ‘We are going to invite a player from the Quebec City region, a little worker,’ remembers Stéphane Julien, the head coach of the Phoenix. We simply invited him to camp. Since he was not drafted, no one had told me much about it. ”
Robert did not hesitate, even though his presence at a QMJHL camp deprived him of his NCAA eligibility. “I told my dad that if I didn’t go, I was going to wonder all my life if I could play Major Junior,” he says.
So comes the Phoenix recruit camp.
Felix immediately jumped out at me by his level of competition.
Stéphane Julien, head coach of the Phœnix de Sherbrooke
But the verdict was always the same: entrenched. “When you dismiss players at the college level, some know very well that they will end their careers there,” recalls the coach. They do not have the same sense of training. It takes them a certain vision, a character, to tell themselves that they will come back. ”
Shortly before Christmas, Robert was recalled for the first time, only to carve out a permanent post after the holidays.
He will spend three more seasons in Sherbrooke, amassing 92 points in 46 games in his final year, 2019-2020, the campaign halted by the pandemic. But the legacy he left in the city of Louis Luncheonette goes beyond goals and assists. At the Phoenix training camp, Robert appears in a video shown to the players to teach the culture of organization.
“How we want to be first on the puck, in recovery, how to never give up, details Julien. He’s still in our videos, and he’s going to stay a few years.
“He’s an example of a small player, but playing like a 6’1” guy. I’ve seen him challenge some pretty big guys who’ve hit teammates. Players like that, we can scratch in the midget AAA, we do not find many. He is an exceptional player, not by his talent, but by his determination. He spends one every 5-6 years in an organization. ”
Direction Wilkes-Barre
In Sherbrooke, Robert had as teammate Samuel Poulin, first choice tour of the Penguins in 2019. It is therefore no coincidence that it ended up in the same organization. When the time came to choose among the teams – which the Canadian was not part of – who courted him, Poulin’s presence weighed in the balance. Today, the two Quebecers are roommates.
PHOTO KDP STUDIO, PROVIDED BY THE PENGUINS OF WILKES-BARRE / SCRANTON
Felix Robert (36)
On the ice, Robert adapted. Last year, he recorded 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in 27 games, and he’s been following a similar pace this season, although the caliber of the American League is higher with the abolition of the team. Reserve. His head coach, JD Forrest, describes him as a “Swiss Army Knife,” a player he can use from fourth to first line, thanks to his knack for picking up pucks.
Last year ECHL started before us, so that’s where I saw him play first. He was a thief on the ice! He was stealing pucks everywhere and he is doing it here. It’s the Energizer bunny. He never stops.
JD Forrest, Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Head Coach
Robert now hopes to add his name to the list of small Quebec forwards who have reached the NHL without going through the draft. “I wouldn’t bet against him,” Forrest warns.
“I loved watching Martin St-Louis play,” recalls Robert. Recently, several people say that my career resembles that of Yanni Gourde: never drafted, beautiful year of 20 years in the junior. In addition, I have a bit of the same style of play.
– Also runny?
– Maybe not as much as him, but I’m trying to disturb! ”
Whether he reaches the NHL or not, Félix Robert illustrates that a hockey career cannot be defined at 16, and that there is no point in being discouraged.
“You meet an obstacle, it’s up to you to show that it’s not going to stop you,” he says. It’s okay to have goals, to want to play major junior, for example. But if you’re good, someone will find you, no matter what league you play in. ”