MONTREAL Its probable, even likely, that Larry Robinsons coaching career is not over.

It just wont continue with the team on which he became a Hall of Famer, winning six Stanley Cups as one of the greatest defencemen of all time.

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin rounded out his clubs coaching staff last week, naming former Habs defenceman Jean-Jacques Daigneault as the second bench assistant for head coach Michel Therrien. Daigneault joins Gerard Gallant, with Clment Jodoin contributing perspective from the press gallery and Pierre Groulx continuing his work as goaltending coach.

There had been considerable talk in the Canadiens universe since Bergevins May 2 hiring that Robinson, at that time an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils, would be an ideal choice to nurture a young Montreal defence corps.

Ultimately, the composition of the coaching staff was left up to Therrien, and on Friday he decided on Daigneault as the final member of his staff.

There is no bitterness in Robinson, who a few times in the past half-dozen years has been in a contractual position to return to the Canadiens in a coaching capacity.

On several occasions, longtime Robinson friend and business agent/adviser Donny Cape has attempted to broker a deal to bring Robinson back to Montreal as a coach, team ambassador, or both. For a variety of reasons, from awkward timing to telephone calls that were not returned by the club to team brass saying it was satisfied with its incumbent staff, a Robinson-Canadiens reunion has not taken place.

It is not happening again; Robinsons NHL career now is unlikely to end in the city where it began.

On Sunday, from his Florida home, Robinson spoke to The Gazette for nearly an hour.

I understand the Canadiens had to get going, they couldnt wait, he said, settling into the off-season with his wife, Jeannette.

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'Life goes on,' Larry Robinson says after Canadiens fill last coaching vacancy