Eric Lindros - Sports Century

[GarlicbreadTB]

Perhaps rehashing the same material we've heard over and over. But some interesting talking heads and some neat imagery from the career of Lindros.

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[Gorskyontario]

Thanks, I will watch this tonight.

 

[GarlicbreadTB]

The Flyers organization doesn't come across very well.

 

[The Panther]

Yeah, by today's standards (or any non-hockey standards), the Flyers' treatment of Lindros around 1998-2000 was embarrassing and unlawful.

 

[carjackmalone]

Offered a two way deal in his prime is unheard of

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

it’s weird looking back on lindros now, with my son twice as close to his age during those years as i am.

he was just a young kid who wanted to make his dad proud. really hard to fault a 16, 18, 23 year old kid. but man those are some grade a stage parents.

but maybe the big thing is, if you’re bobby clarke in 97 or so, and you see that it’s never going to change with carl and bonnie, why not trade him? imagine going into that early 2000s second flyers core with an absolute haul from a peak lindros trade. is lindros to st louis for pronger + handzus + hecht out of the question?

and then imagine the eventual powerhouse flyers team with pronger and desjardins anchoring the D, roenick, primeau, and zus down the middle, recchi, leclair, gagne, kapanen, amonte, and all the other ringers on the wings… you still have the achilles heel of no stud goalie but pronger helps
tremendously right?

 

[Stephen]

he was just a young kid who wanted to make his dad proud. really hard to fault a 16, 18, 23 year old kid. but man those are some grade a stage parents.

but maybe the big thing is, if you’re bobby clarke in 97 or so, and you see that it’s never going to change with carl and bonnie, why not trade him? imagine going into that early 2000s second flyers core with an absolute haul from a peak lindros trade. is lindros to st louis for pronger + handzus + hecht out of the question?

Given the fiasco involving Lindros and his punctured lung, concussion history maybe that 20 something prodigy did need meddlesome parents to protect him from what seemed like a very mom and pop and unprofessional Philadelphia Flyers regime headed up by Bobby Clarke? For a multimillion dollar franchise player, the Next One and the guy to sell your new arena, the Philadelphia organization seemed a little careless with the guy.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Given the fiasco involving Lindros and his punctured lung, concussion history maybe that 20 something prodigy did need meddlesome parents to protect him from what seemed like a very mom and pop and unprofessional Philadelphia Flyers regime headed up by Bobby Clarke? For a multimillion dollar franchise player, the Next One and the guy to sell your new arena, the Philadelphia organization seemed a little careless with the guy.

oh absolutely no argument from me that the flyers were an exploitative organization whose medical staff and culture were any given sunday-esque. the eventual dave babych lawsuit proved that beyond a doubt.

but two things can be true and this doesn’t mean the lindros parents weren’t extra af.

 

[JianYang]

Around the same time, Babych also got injured as a member of the flyers, and he ended up suing them (and winning) over a claim that their negligence resulted in his retirement.

It just adds more smoke regarding the flyers medical staff and more credence to lindros' complaints towards them.

 

[The Panther]

I mean, Bob Clarke has always seemed like a reasonable, well-mannered guy when it comes to staff illness and injuries.

"We didn't tell [Roger Neilson] to go get cancer. It's too bad that he did."

 

[sr edler]

While Lindros was a terrific player, I think he probably had a negative impact on hockey overall, due to the mindless size-craze and such things, and without all that, perhaps the backlash wouldn't have been as harsh as well. Despite his apparent skills, I never found him that pleasing to the eye.

 

[Hasbro]

While Lindros was a terrific player, I think he probably had a negative impact on hockey overall, due to the mindless size-craze and such things, and without all that, perhaps the backlash wouldn't have been as harsh as well. Despite his apparent skills, I never found him that pleasing to the eye.

He was a white elephant for the Flyers.

 

[10YearsAfter]

While Lindros was a terrific player, I think he probably had a negative impact on hockey overall, due to the mindless size-craze and such things, and without all that, perhaps the backlash wouldn't have been as harsh as well. Despite his apparent skills, I never found him that pleasing to the eye.

what the heck does that mean?

if he had overcome that bad habit (head down) top 3 all-time player!

 

[Boxscore]

Eric Lindros... the biggest "what if" in NHL history. Everything about Lindros was larger-than-life yet drenched in negativity and drama. From his desire to only play close to home in Oshawa, to snubbing the Nordiques, to being traded to two different teams on the same day... controversy and ruffling feathers were part of his mystique for better or worse.

Ironically, Lindros was tailor-made for the Flyers brand. From day one, he was considered Darth Vader on skates and there was no better market for a big, nasty villain than Philadelphia. As for what happened between the team and the Lindros family, I feel the blame lies in the middle.

In most cases, the fans will rightfully side with the player vs. ownership, when situations like this rear their ugly heads. But, I'll tell you that the Lindros family was a royal pain in the rear on multiple occasions... and Carl overstepped his bounds often. Back in the day, I was told directly from a member of the Flyers (in real-time) that Carl would call Bob Clarke and insist he trade one of their best players to Buffalo for Mike Peca because Eric hated playing against him. It even got to the point where he was openly campaigning that Clarke should offer John LeClair in a deal for Peca even though LeClair was an established 50-goal scorer. Bonnie also used to walk into the room directly after games when she was visiting Philly, which made some of the other players uncomfortable as they were in the process of getting changed and showering.

The Lindros family was simply bizarre in the way they handled Eric's business. Sure, they were protecting their kid but they were over-the-top. And that doesn't excuse the way the Flyers mishandled Lindros and his injuries. Once the trust and boundaries were broken between the parents and management, things got dicey with Clarke at the helm... because Clarkie would piss vinegar and be spiteful as all heck if he felt his team was under fire. That blame falls on Clarke and the organization as a whole.

The same person who told me about Carl driving Clarke crazy with weekly trade ideas also told me Clarke challenged Lindros in the room in front of his teammates once when Eric was dealing with an injury. At the time, Roenick was also out with a serious injury (I believe Blackhawks at the time) and word around the league was that Roenick was returning earlier than expected to play injured... Clarke got word and walked into the room and screamed at Lindros, "You're going to let that F-ing American come back before you?!" This didn't sit well with Eric and his dad.

I always felt the biggest mistake Clarke made as GM was never bringing in a player like Messier, Shanahan, Clark, Tocchet, or Chelios to help relieve the leadership burden from Lindros when he was young. The Flyers also gave Eric mixed signals when it came to him protecting himself. They went from, "Do whatever it takes to create your room" to "We don't want you fighting at all" and that was a mistake.

Those Lindros years in Philly were some of the most exciting in Flyers history. It's such a shame they didn't end up with a Cup or two and Lindros a Conn Smythe and a long, healthy career as an all-time great. He certainly had the skill and size. At his best, he was almost as dominant as any player I've ever seen not named Mario or Gretz.

 

[GarlicbreadTB]

The Roenick stuff happened before the 1999 playoffs when he had his collapsed lung. I believe Lindros was scheduled to be back for the 2nd round of the playoffs but the Flyers got knocked out by Toronto and Curtis Joseph who they infamously didn't sign and went with JVB instead.