1991 Draft and Eric Lindros | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League

1991 Draft and Eric Lindros

tony d

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Jun 23, 2007
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We all know the story about Eric Lindros. Top rated prospect that year but didn't want to go to Quebec. They ended up drafting him though but he would never play for them.

I'm wondering who would Quebec pick instead of Lindros that year and if Lindros didn't go #1 where would he go?

For reference here's the 1991 draft:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/NHL_1991_entry.html

Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this.
 
Guessing Niedermayer. Top rated defenceman, and with Nolan already in the system it would have been a bit redundant for Quebec City to draft Falloon.

If Quebec did draft Niedermayer, it might have set off an interesting series of events. Obviously Quebec doesn't get Forsberg, and without him in the system they likely don't feel as comfortable essentially giving away Sundin. Colorado with Niedermayer/Sundin is probably more dangerous than Colorado with Forsberg. Niedermayer may have taken a more offensive development path as well, playing in Colorado's more up tempo system as opposed to New Jersey's.
 
Sticking to their guns and grabbing Lindros was the only option available.
 
agree. there is zero possibility they don't take lindros, short of him crossing the street with his head down and getting hit by a car before the draft.
 
Agree with those who say they have to had taken Lindros no matter what. But if not, it would have been Niedermayer. Defence was a position of need and Niedermayer was by far ranked the second best prospect of the draft by most people. It was a surprise when San Jose took Falloon ahead of Niedermayer.
 
It would definitely have been interesting if they had taken Niedermayer over Lindros. Obviously, no Forsberg, and no massive increase in depth throughout the team system. Likely this also means they keep Sundin, and wouldn't have to trade Noland for Ozo. I could see Niedermayer and Foote becoming a very complimentary pairing, Nieds may have developed better offensively, but been a bit worse defensively.
 
my memory of that draft -- and i was nine so take it with a grain of salt -- is that niedermayer was as close to a consensus #2 as you usually get. falloon was probably ranked 3-5.

san jose even said after the draft that they were going to get someone "just as good as niedermayer" in the 2nd round (ozo), so they went with the scorer at #2. a big whiff on the #2 pick, obviously, but very very good value out of their two second rounders, taking a flyer on ray whitney (falloon's junior linemate, as many probably remember, and the guy it turns out who was doing the heavy lifting on that line) and ozo. both future all-stars. but i think only an expansion team would have made that choice: niedermayer was a very very good prospect, but he wasn't on the can't-miss ekblad level, which is to say you would expect him to have growing pains at that position (ironically, the other can't-miss defense prospect of our time-- ekblad's florida predecessor jay bouwmeester). think: hedman's first few years, for example. not every expansion team would have done this, but i think only a team starting from scratch (roster and fanbase) would take the lesser scorer over that level of defenseman. most teams would have taken the better talent and been patient. in fact, the next year ottawa was completely sure tampa bay would take todd warriner at #1, for many of the same reasons, leaving them with hamrlik. but alas.

the other surprise was marty lapointe, sort of the mike ricci of that draft. i had him as a sure top five and was very surprised he dropped all the way to #10.
 
So where would Lindros go if Quebec decided to pass on him? San Jose? Would he go to that team and immediately become the face of the new franchise. What would it mean for San Jose going forward?
 
At the time Neidermeyer probably would of helped them more then Lindros considering they already had Sakic and Sundin.
 
So where would Lindros go if Quebec decided to pass on him? San Jose? Would he go to that team and immediately become the face of the new franchise. What would it mean for San Jose going forward?

Sadly I do not live in an alternate reality for these events to of happened.



There was no way Lindros wasn't going #1 that year, it would of been like bobby ryan going before crosby... quebec did not need another center and pretty much knew he wouldn't report and took him anyways since he was that big an asset.
 
does anyone have the final THN or ISS draft rankings from that year?

i'm trying to remember where guys were. i know forsberg and stojanov were reaches, while i think i remember lachance, poulin, wright, and boucher were all discussed at top guys. i feel like pat peake was expected to go high too. but those are old old memories now.
 
We all know the story about Eric Lindros. Top rated prospect that year but didn't want to go to Quebec. They ended up drafting him though but he would never play for them.

I'm wondering who would Quebec pick instead of Lindros that year and if Lindros didn't go #1 where would he go?

For reference here's the 1991 draft:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/NHL_1991_entry.html

Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this.

lindros was the only pick. the should have traded the pick at the draft
 
There's no way Quebec does anything but trade the pick prior to/at the draft, or Lindros after it. No player in 1991 could be more valuable than the package Quebec could get from any number of franchises for the rights to the marketing bonanza that Lindros was going to become.

Niedermayer would have been the correct pick in the alternate universe where Lindros is not a consideration (hit by a bus, parents moved to Madagascar, committed to baseball only as a child, was born on September 16th, w/e), but in any universe where Lindros is on the board, Quebec can't give up that instant shot at overhauling their roster.
 
my memory of that draft -- and i was nine so take it with a grain of salt -- is that niedermayer was as close to a consensus #2 as you usually get. falloon was probably ranked 3-5.

san jose even said after the draft that they were going to get someone "just as good as niedermayer" in the 2nd round (ozo), so they went with the scorer at #2. a big whiff on the #2 pick, obviously, but very very good value out of their two second rounders, taking a flyer on ray whitney (falloon's junior linemate, as many probably remember, and the guy it turns out who was doing the heavy lifting on that line) and ozo. both future all-stars. but i think only an expansion team would have made that choice: niedermayer was a very very good prospect, but he wasn't on the can't-miss ekblad level, which is to say you would expect him to have growing pains at that position (ironically, the other can't-miss defense prospect of our time-- ekblad's florida predecessor jay bouwmeester). think: hedman's first few years, for example. not every expansion team would have done this, but i think only a team starting from scratch (roster and fanbase) would take the lesser scorer over that level of defenseman. most teams would have taken the better talent and been patient. in fact, the next year ottawa was completely sure tampa bay would take todd warriner at #1, for many of the same reasons, leaving them with hamrlik. but alas.

the other surprise was marty lapointe, sort of the mike ricci of that draft. i had him as a sure top five and was very surprised he dropped all the way to #10.

Pretty good write up of the situation, but lost in all of this is Scott Lachance. Pretty sure there wasn't a ton of separation between him and Niedermayer at the time. The Hanifin of his day?
 
THN had LaChance ranked second and Niedermayer fourth so I'm not too sure why some people are saying it would have been Niedermayer taken. Or that Niedermayer was the runaway top defenseman at the time.
 
in fact, the next year ottawa was completely sure tampa bay would take todd warriner at #1, for many of the same reasons, leaving them with hamrlik. but alas.

Wait, what? I've never heard of this...

the other surprise was marty lapointe, sort of the mike ricci of that draft. i had him as a sure top five and was very surprised he dropped all the way to #10.

Yeah, I believe Lapointe made the WJC team as a 17 year old that year so dropping to 10 was definitely a surprise.
 
Man, Quebec made out like bandits in that deal and Philly basically sold the farm...

What a lot of people don't know is that the Blackhawks had the best offer on the table for Lindros (at the time of course) and the deal was basically done - the reason why It didn't happen was because Wirtz didn't want to pony up the 15 million dollars....

The deal was Belfour, Larmer, Smith and (3) 1st round picks...

Wow, how that would have changed NHL history...

Hasek, Roneick, Chelios and Lindros on the Hawks? tweak a little bit here and there and the Hawks could have been a dynasty.
 
Wait, what? I've never heard of this...


Wait, what? I've never heard of this...

from a google search i just ran--

It was precisely this measure that led The Senators very early to the player around whom they would build their franchise. The early scouting reports on Czechoslovakian teenager Roman Hamrlik were outstanding, but it was only when Bridgman and Sexton traveled to the Four Nations Cup in Vierumaki, Finland, that they understood his character. On a leg he had just fractured blocking a Russian shot from the point, Hamrlik walked on icy street for a mile Co meet with the two, refusing a ride and refusing, as well, to admit he was in any pain.

"Mel," Sexton said, "he's our guy."

Hamrlik was instantly tagged as the first player they would draft. If they won the upcoming flip to decide which would select first, Ottawa or Tampa, they would have him for certain. But even if they lost the flip and had to go second, they figured Hamrlik would still be available.

The Tampa Bay Lightning was having a very hard time selling tickets. How would Phil Esposito sell a single seat in aging, conservative Florida with a teenaged kid from a recently communist country who couldn't speak a word of English and, besides, is still a year away from being ready?

Ottawa, with all seats sold out and knowledgeable, patient fans, would have no such worries. Hamrlik was declared a sure thing. They even began thinking about building a marketing scheme around his first name: a Roman to wear the centurion crest for The Senators.

[...]

The Senators tried to put a brave face on it, claiming they had won "one out of two," but no one was fooled. They took consolation in the growing certainty that Esposito would go for the good-looking, highly marketable young Windsor scorer, Todd Warriner.

They were headed for Montreal with confidence. It was all on computer, all available on paper. It would probably happen as predicted.

[...]

And coming into Montreal, Ottawa had been thinking about a 6'5" kid from Medicine Hat if Hamrlik wasn't available.

In a matter of hours they completely changed strategy. Thanks to a large contingent of Russian prospects, they were able to do some fast interviewing, including Alexei Yashin, whose name was being heard more and more often.

They met Yashin and were most impressed with his intelligence, his demeanor, and his intent. While Hamrlik was walking around telling reporters he would soon be buying a Porsche, Yashin told The Senators his goal was "to play in the National Hockey League and move his parents and brother to a cleaner environment.

Character.

[...]

Friday evening Rick Bowness and Sexton took the young Russian out to dinner and were very impressed. Sexton came to the conclusion that Yashin should have been the chosen one all along.

But there was still one slim chance to get Hamrlik. Esposito had offered a deal. The Senators could get the player they wished if they would give him a draft pick. The Senators refused. They would go with Yashin.

"Even if in the end Phil had gone with Warriner we would have taken Yashin," says Sexton.

Esposito went with Hamrlik.
Ottawa took Yashin.
Rathje went to San Jose.
And Warriner, who was expected to go first, ended up with Quebec.
The laptop computer worked fine.
Ottawa made no more mistakes.

source: http://ventsenator.narod.ru/OldScoresNewGoals/6/TheReturnOfTheSenators.htm

that last bit about yashin is different from the account in roy macgregor's book road games, which is where i know the story from.

i can't remember the specifics, because i read that book more than 20 years ago, but macgregor's take as far as i recall is that the sens were so completely certain that they were going to get hamrlik and they were so set on him that they overscouted czech players to help hamrlik adjust and in the end because they spent so little time looking into players from other countries, they took three czech guys anyway. 30 year old tomas jelinek was supposed to mentor hamrlik like jiri hrdina did for jagr on the '91 penguins. i guess the other two, who combined for eleven NHL games, were supposed to be hamrlik's buddies.
 
from a google search i just ran--



source: http://ventsenator.narod.ru/OldScoresNewGoals/6/TheReturnOfTheSenators.htm

that last bit about yashin is different from the account in roy macgregor's book road games, which is where i know the story from.

i can't remember the specifics, because i read that book more than 20 years ago, but macgregor's take as far as i recall is that the sens were so completely certain that they were going to get hamrlik and they were so set on him that they overscouted czech players to help hamrlik adjust and in the end because they spent so little time looking into players from other countries, they took three czech guys anyway. 30 year old tomas jelinek was supposed to mentor hamrlik like jiri hrdina did for jagr on the '91 penguins. i guess the other two, who combined for eleven NHL games, were supposed to be hamrlik's buddies.

Excellent find...

So Hamrlik walks home on a broken leg and Lindros at the time is throwing a fit like a child. :laugh:

More proof that sports in general is about character...
 
from a google search i just ran--



source: http://ventsenator.narod.ru/OldScoresNewGoals/6/TheReturnOfTheSenators.htm

that last bit about yashin is different from the account in roy macgregor's book road games, which is where i know the story from.

i can't remember the specifics, because i read that book more than 20 years ago, but macgregor's take as far as i recall is that the sens were so completely certain that they were going to get hamrlik and they were so set on him that they overscouted czech players to help hamrlik adjust and in the end because they spent so little time looking into players from other countries, they took three czech guys anyway. 30 year old tomas jelinek was supposed to mentor hamrlik like jiri hrdina did for jagr on the '91 penguins. i guess the other two, who combined for eleven NHL games, were supposed to be hamrlik's buddies.

Wow, thanks for the find. Never knew Todd Warriner of all players was being considered to go first overall. Would have been a bigger bust than Stefan if that had happened.
 
Yeah he was wayyyy too large of an asset to not go 1st
I suppose a team like the Sharks or Devils could have traded up to get the pick if
they somehow had inside knowledge he wasnt going to report
But thats such a huge investment. I can t see a GM figuring it out even over a weekend or month
Too many moving parts, lots of assets changing hands. Picks, money, etc.

I mean it was a mess when it finally did got down a whole year later. And it still got mixed up.
 
So where would Lindros go if Quebec decided to pass on him? San Jose? Would he go to that team and immediately become the face of the new franchise. What would it mean for San Jose going forward?

Would Lindros have wanted to play for an expansion team? Somehow I doubt it. So then that means New Jersey would be next in line.
 

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