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Larry Robinson slowly scaling back coaching

Phoenix Coyotes v San Jose Sharks

SAN JOSE, CA - OCTOBER 3: Associate coach Larry Robinson of the San Jose Sharks stands behind the bench against the Phoenix Coyotes at SAP Center on October 5 2013 in San Jose, California. The Sharks defeated the Coyotes 4-1. (Photo by Rocky Widner/Getty Image)

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San Jose Sharks associate coach Larry Robinson has been traveling with the team, but he might scale back his road trips as the season progresses. At the age of 63, the Hall of Fame defenseman is interested in slowly reducing his role as a coach.

“I’m just getting tired,” he admitted to the Bergen Record. “I still enjoy the game, but it’s not as much a passion maybe as it used to be. I still enjoy the hockey part and being on the ice with the guys.”

He wants to spend more time with his family too, which is one of the reasons he left the New Jersey Devils in the first place. His daughter and grandchildren live in the Los Angeles area, so he had hoped working for a team closer to them would allow him to visit more frequently. Unfortunately with the compacted schedules resulting from the lockout and then Olympics, things haven’t played out that way over the previous two campaigns. He’s hoping this season will be different.

Even if he cuts back on his duties as an associate coach though, he’ll still be contributing to San Jose in other ways. He accepted the title of director of player development when the Sharks retained his services for the 2014-15 campaign.

“I’m hoping to be able to spend a little more time going down to see our farm system,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of good, young kids down there and just seeing how they’re developing and who knows? Maybe even getting over to see a couple of our kids that are playing in junior as well.”

The idea is that he’ll mostly shed his duties as an associate coach in 2015-16 and instead focus primarily on the team’s player development.

He’s a nine-time Stanley Cup champion, with six of those victories coming as a player and another three as a coach.

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