“Yeah, I did place a call to Eric in 2012 to see whether he would consider coming back,” Flyers president Paul Holmgren said Thursday. “He looked that good at the outdoor alumni game. I thought he could help our team.”
Holmgren wasn’t exactly sure on the timing of the offer, but it was definitely after the Flyers-Rangers alumni game at Citizens Bank Park on December 31, 2011.
It didn’t seem like an outlandish idea. Part of Holmgren’s thinking came from watching Jaromir Jagr, who is one year older than Lindros, rack up 54 points that season on a line with Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell after a three-year hiatus in Russia’s KHL.
“I told him ‘You wouldn’t have to be the guy here. We have Claude, he is our guy,’” Holmgren said. “I figured even if he was a power play guy, stood in front of the net, played 10 or 12 minutes a game, that he could still be a significant factor.”
Holmgren, then the Flyers’ GM, told Lindros he would have a month or two to get in shape. The plan was for Lindros to be in the Flyers’ lineup for the last chunk of the regular season, followed by the playoffs. The Flyers knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins in an epic first-round series that spring.