Just noticed this about Lindros

[The Shadow]

Maybe a random thread but some of you may find this interesting. In 1995 Lindros was dominant. But there were signs of a major flaw in his game that I didn’t notice until today

Check out this video and at 3:00 and 6:20. Two separate times that Lindros got hit in the exact same way Stevens ended him. Was this a regular thing where he came across the middle and got smoked?



So it’s possible that this was a regular play of his and Stevens knew what to expect and wasn’t just acting on that moment

Lindros and Bure were my fav players back then

 

[koyvoo]

It was a bad habit that came from the fact that throughout his entire development before making the NHL he was so much bigger and stronger than his opponents, he could get away with having his down while cutting actosss like that.

 

[Michael Farkas]

This probably belongs in HoH. But yes, Lindros was not exactly a genius out there. He came out of the womb at 6'4" 220...and while that creates some advantages, it also can hurt development in others if the work isn't put in. Lindros wasn't a super high end thinker of the game, lacked spatial awareness and threat recognition. You can see this in space, in transition, and even on how he played the power play. There's a couple of threads in HoH that may or may not interest you...

Thread 'Was Eric Lindros reliant on his physicality to score and destined to be injury-prone?'

Oct 20, 2022

From the thread Lindros/Crosby thread. IMO, Lindros was fundamentally reliant on his size and physicality to put up points and was not, in a vacuum, as offensively skilled as his per game production would indicate. During his first 8 years, he was on a level offensively that was only bettered by Mario and Jagr but only had one season (arguably two), and a strike shortened one at that, that wasn't significantly affected by injury which kept him from winning any scoring titles,

I don't think he had bad luck with injuries, I think injuries were woven into his NHL career's DNA as he would...

• daver
• Replies: 33
• Forum: The History of Hockey

Thread 'Would Eric Lindros have reached a Crosby level career had it not been for all the injuries?'

Oct 5, 2022

What Eric Lindros could have been, had it not been for all the injuries. If Lindros didn’t have all the injuries, do you think he would have been a Crosby level generational talent when his career was all said and done?

I definitely think Eric had the potential to be as good as Crosby is.

• SeanMoneyHands
• Replies: 262
• Forum: The History of Hockey

 

[NVious]

His peewee coach told him "if you can't see them, they can't see you"

 

[Sasha Orlov]

It’s a guy that never had to protect himself because he was always way bigger than everyone else

Slafkovsky got lit up so many times in his first and second season for the same reason

 

[Sundinisagod]

It was a bad habit that came from the fact that throughout his entire development before making the NHL he was so much bigger and stronger than his opponents, he could get away with having his down while cutting actosss like that.

Correct. I watched a lot if his OHL games, he would carry the puck up the ice with his head down, he would get hit often and the player catching him would just bounce off him...Lindros would barely notice or lose a step. It caught up to him in the big show though.

 

[Tweed]

You would’ve noticed that about him earlier if you were paying attention.

 

[God]

Yeah. Chytil does the same thing a lot, although this most recent concussion was from a dirty hit.

 

[dirtydanglez]

yea this was pretty well known at the time.

 

[Brodeur]

Check out this video and at 3:00 and 6:20. Two separate times that Lindros got hit in the exact same way Stevens ended him. Was this a regular thing where he came across the middle and got smoked?

Kasparaitis hit Lindros in March 1998 and knocked him out for awhile. Lindros had a series of concussions prior to Stevens ECF Game 7. In the moment, they said the Hal Gill check was fairly routine. And then I think it was Francis Lessard who gave Lindros a concussion in practice when he was trying to get back into the lineup. Mix in the scary collapsed lung incident against Nashville in 1999 and Lindros had sustained a lot of injuries.

I never did like the notion that it was Stevens that singlehandedly ended Lindros' career. Just a pet peeve since I'll see clickbaity YouTube videos that focus on Stevens and ignore the earlier concussions. Lindros chose to sit out the following season to force a trade and then eventually had another concussion with the Rangers. If I recall correctly it was a wrist injury that limited Lindros at the end of his career.

 

[Grifter3511]

Yes...this is not a revelation. Lindros was known for skating with his head down, or at least looking down to track the puck when making adjustments or in traffic. He got away with it in junior because he was a man amongst boys. He got away with it a lot a the NHL level because he was still bigger and meaner than the majority of the league, but he would definitely get caught.

 

[The Macho King]

Kasparaitis hit Lindros in March 1998 and knocked him out for awhile. Lindros had a series of concussions prior to Stevens ECF Game 7. In the moment, they said the Hal Gill check was fairly routine. And then I think it was Francis Lessard who gave Lindros a concussion in practice when he was trying to get back into the lineup. Mix in the scary collapsed lung incident against Nashville in 1999 and Lindros had sustained a lot of injuries.

I never did like the notion that it was Stevens that singlehandedly ended Lindros' career. Just a pet peeve since I'll see clickbaity YouTube videos that focus on Stevens and ignore the earlier concussions. Lindros chose to sit out the following season to force a trade and then eventually had another concussion with the Rangers. If I recall correctly it was a wrist injury that limited Lindros at the end of his career.

For the record - both of those hits are still clean today. The Stevens one is a bit closer, but Lindros just did not care for himself.

That's why I don't play the what if game with him specifically.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Maybe a random thread but some of you may find this interesting. In 1995 Lindros was dominant. But there were signs of a major flaw in his game that I didn’t notice until today

Check out this video and at 3:00 and 6:20. Two separate times that Lindros got hit in the exact same way Stevens ended him. Was this a regular thing where he came across the middle and got smoked?



So it’s possible that this was a regular play of his and Stevens knew what to expect and wasn’t just acting on that moment

Lindros and Bure were my fav players back then

go back to his JR games and it was the same thing

 

[ForsbergForever]

The real question is, after getting rocked multiple times while skating with his head down why didn't he learn some spatial awareness?

 

[Rusty8719]

The real question is, after getting rocked multiple times while skating with his head down why didn't he learn some spatial awareness?

That's the funny thing. So many guys get absolutely rocked and then just learn to play differently.

I think Lindros is just built different up there.

 

[The Shadow]

You would’ve noticed that about him earlier if you were paying attention.

I was quite young at the time

 

[GlitchMarner]

MacKinnon seems to really like that cutting to the middle move as well. Nowadays it's not nearly as dangerous as it was in the mid to late 90s.

 

[The Shadow]

For the record - both of those hits are still clean today. The Stevens one is a bit closer, but Lindros just did not care for himself.

That's why I don't play the what if game with him specifically.

Nobody said they were dirty hits.

 

[Mr Nogatco]

Just noticed this Ovechkin guy has a pretty good one timer

 

[The Macho King]

Nobody said they were dirty hits.

Just wanted to make the distinction with (for example) the Kariya hit, which felt stinky at the time and now would result in huge discipline. Lindros just couldn't adapt to the NHL game in a way that preserved his health.

 

[BraveCanadian]

MacKinnon seems to really like that cutting to the middle move as well. Nowadays it's not nearly as dangerous as it was in the mid to late 90s.

These days there isn't much real hitting and even less in the open ice. And you aren't allowed to put your shoulder right on a 6'4 someone's chin as the first contact.

 

[Run the Gauntlet]

Is this something that can be coached out of a player?
Many players in the 90's cut across the ice like that and did not get their heads rocked like Lindros.
Maybe is was just bad coaching.

 

[Tweed]

I was quite young at the time

It was a joke.

 

[psycat]

Is this something that can be coached out of a player?
Many players in the 90's cut across the ice like that and did not get their heads rocked like Lindros.
Maybe is was just bad coaching.

But in general they looked up and tried to avoid/brace themselves for incoming hits. I am sure there are other examples of players like Lindros, none springs to mind for me though, in that they continously look on the puck.

Big E was just about my favorite player when young but easy to see how alot of it was on him not respecting the contact elements of the sport, used to bully players around based on his size alone. Live by the sword, die by the sword kinda thing.

Believe it would be kinda hard to "coach" basic fundamentals into a player after a whole life of doing it a certain way with good results, hell if Lindros learned to look up maybe he would have lost some of his puckhandling since it seemed to be based on visual queues.

 

[Michael Farkas]

It was very likely too late in his respective development arcs to get that out of his game. That's almost a complete spatial rebuild...that's probably something you'd need to do before major junior given my assumptions on his physical and mental development arcs.

You could take a hack at some very minor improvements in early NHL time, but they'd be a different animal really. Like, you'd really have to development physical-technical "skill chaining" and put it in his memory because his "instinctual" is basically locked at this point, in my opinion/experience.

For instance, "Eric, you're carrying down the left side, and you cross the blueline. Let's work to install a forehand load move that puts a d-man on their heel or at least the middle of their blades, and then you pull it through to your backhand, build a wall with your shoulder and knee in one motion, and..." etc.

So you go through the tape and make a list with the title of: "Things that get Eric killed" and you start to trying to build ways to lessen the amount of times he does the things on that list without overloading him and without compromising what makes him a star player. Not easy.