Kings’ Reported Trade of Robitaille Turns Out to Be a Whale of a Hoax

The Kings’ Luc Robitaille to the Hartford Whalers along with future considerations for right wing Kevin Dineen and center Ray Ferraro?

Blockbuster trade? In this case, merely a blockbuster hoax.

At the Forum Wednesday, King General Manager Rogie Vachon had just told Sue Carpenter of media relations, “It sure is quiet around here.”

Not for long.

On the other side of the country, the phone rang at NBC affiliate WVIT in Hartford, Conn.

“This is Phil Langan,” the caller told news director Paul Frega.

Having never spoken with Langan, director of public relations for the Whalers, Frega had no reason to doubt the caller’s identity.

Nor his message, which was that the above-mentioned trade had been made. Sportscaster Tony Terzi was scheduled to be on the air in four minutes. Frega told him to go with the story.

He did and word spread fast. On neighboring WTIC Radio, the trade quickly became topic No. 1 on the station’s sports talk show.

Whaler general partner Benjamin Sisti saw the broadcast and called Langan, wanting to know what was going on.

Langan had no idea. He had never called anybody.

“Now I’m left sucking pond water,” a chagrined Terzi said after learning he had been had. “We must have gotten a hundred calls, from the wire services and from all over the world. I feel like a big dummy.”