The Eric Lindros trades?

[JFA87-66-99]

When Lindros was drafted into the OHL by the Sault St. how did he end up on Oshawa. I know he was traded for a package of like 3-4 players, 3-4 draft picks, and cash. I'm trying to figure out exactly how the deal went down? Does anyone know what players, what draft picks, how much cash was included in this trade. And has there ever been a bigger trade in CHL history. At the time in 1989 Lindros was supposed to be the Next One and was billed as the closest thing to a perfect hockey player. Thanks!

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Legends of Hockey has this info:

At the age of 15, Lindros was playing for the St. Mike's Junior B team. He had 67 points in 37 games and made a habit of walloping players who were sometimes six years older, racking up 193 minutes in penalties along the way. Though he was huge and talented, Lindros lacked confidence off the ice. When he was eligible for the junior draft as a 16-year-old, his mother and father asked the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds not to choose their son since the team was situated too far away. The Greyhounds drafted him anyway, as they had Wayne Gretzky in 1977, but, unlike Gretzky, Lindros refused to report. He played instead with a Detroit junior team, Compuware. He was pleased when the Greyhounds traded his rights to the Oshawa Generals, a team just outside Toronto, for three players, three future draft picks and $80,000. Prior to joining the Generals, Lindros made his first of three appearances at the World Junior Championships.

Upon his arrival with the Generals, Lindros averaged two points a game and led the team to the Memorial Cup in 1990. He was named CHL Player-of-the-Year the next season after leading the OHL with 149 points and earning Canada another gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Saskatoon, topping the team with 11 points in the seven games.

Rights traded to Oshawa (OHL) by Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) for Mike DeCoff, Jason Denomme, Mike Lenarduzzi and Oshawa's 2nd round choices in 1990 (Drew Bannister) and 1991 (Dave Roach) OHL Priority Drafts, December 18, 1989.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=10953

 

[JFA87-66-99]

Rights traded to Oshawa (OHL) by Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) for Mike DeCoff, Jason Denomme, Mike Lenarduzzi and Oshawa's 2nd round choices in 1990 (Drew Bannister) and 1991 (Dave Roach) OHL Priority Drafts, December 18, 1989.

Thanks for posting this. How good were those players?

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

At the time SSM held Lindros' rights, the OHL altered its policy of trading first round picks. The way I recall is that a first-year player couldn't be traded but the League rescinded that because there was a possibility (though slight in this case) Lindros could go the NCAA route.

Other than Oshawa, the other possible destinations for Lindros were rumored to be Belleville, Kingston or Hamilton (the team that is now Guelph).

Drew Bannister played some time in the NHL, with a few teams -- http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=196

Lenarduzzi made it to the NHL, briefly, with Hartford -- http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=3109

Stats for the others can be found on Hockeydb.com.

Here is a Sports Illustrated article written by Jay Greenburg (who used to cover the Flyers) from 1989:

http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability...azine/MAG1069215/3/index.htm&partnerID=289881

In the middle of the night, seven years ago, in a motel room in Buffalo, Bonnie Lindros came to the sudden, powerful realization that she had an exceptional son. "We were at one of Eric's Minor Atom tournaments," she says. "He was nine years old. You know how sometimes you just know? Well, I did that night. He wasn't even bigger and stronger than most of the other kids at that age. He was just better. I woke up in bed and started shaking."

Eric Lindros, 16, has grown up to be even better than his mother could have dreamed possible. Now it's NHL scouts and general managers who start shaking whenever they think about him. Men who foresaw the greatness of Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux now talk about Eric in tones that are reverential. Eric, 6'4�" and 220 pounds of franchise-to-be, is not only too good for his age, but he's too good to be true. "He's the best 16-year-old player I've ever seen," says Philadelphia Flyer general manager Bobby Clarke! "He could play in the NHL right now."

However, Eric, who hails from Toronto, won't be eligible to do that until the 1991-92 season, because the NHL does not draft players younger than 18. So now he plays center for Compuware of the nine-team North American Junior Hockey League in Farmington, Mich., where he is spending his senior year in high school and living with a large, gregarious family. Signs at the Oak Park Arena, Compuware's home rink, prohibit scouts from smoking, but not from drooling. Eric has 23 goals and 29 assists in 14 games for an undefeated team.

It's as if he's a man playing against boys. He can take the puck to the net anytime he desires, but for the sake of variety, of sharpening his playmaking and of keeping his teammates happy, he often passes it off. He goes from backhand to forehand with ease, flicks sharp diagonal passes to cutting teammates and zings hard, accurate wrist shots with an impressively quick release. He's too big to make dazzling pivots, but he starts well, reaches a long stride quickly and finishes plays with the power of the superstar he almost certainly will become. He is a tireless worker whose reach extends almost as far as Lemieux's.