Why haven't we seen another Eric Lindros?

[Craig Ludwig]

If you lived through the Lindros era, you would get it and would avoid the petty jokes. For those who weren't from the era, he was one of the biggest guys playing, could skate very well, and had great hands/shot. Imagine Pat Maroon + another 20 pounds, but with great speed and fantastic hands. Hw was just that much bigger than everyone else. Defensemen would lose the puck out of fear when they both went into the corners together.

He made Canada's Olympic team at 19 years old. He was a phenom.

Problem was that in the OHL no one wanted to hit him, so he never had his head up. Had he learned to keep his head up, he would have had an Ovechkin type career. I see people mocking him here, but he was an absolute treat to watch in his prime.

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

People forget how dominant he was.

I rmemeber him not being dominant enough to ever win it all. To get his ass kicked by multiple nhl'ers, and not staying loyal to his team not once, not twice, but at least three times. This guy was a jackass and never belongs in the HHOF.

 

[Lampedampe]

The intent behind my answer was to basically say, Lindros was so much better than Malkin (who is a legitmate 1st ballot HOFer) that even comparing him to someone so great, someone most of us agree is a top 3 or at worst top 5 player of his generation, is disrespectful.

Cool, no one made the comparison.

 

[Dread Clawz]

If Lindros was in today's NHL, he would be up there with McDavid, MacKinnon, and Kucherov for Hart/Art Ross easily.

I never said he wouldn't be. My point was that you haven't seen any Lindroses in 20 years for a reason. Instead you've seen players like McDavid, Kuch, MacKinnon, Crosby, Matthews, Stamkos, Hughes etc. for a reason.

Well yeah, but how many of the fourth liners of those days would make it today? Wade Belak ain't getting drafted in the top 15 today

That's my point, it goes both ways .

 

[tarheelhockey]

I mean, you're really driving down into the semantic black hole at a certain point. It takes more skill to strike a guy out on 6 88-mph offspeed pitches than on 3 105-mph heaters, I guess, but a K's a K, and if you ask the hitters they probably don't care what word you used to describe each guy, and each pitcher would probably choose to throw the other guy's pitches if he could.

It’s not semantics. I listed the relevant statistics in the post you quoted. Lindros did not produce at a rate that justifies any conclusion he had a skill advantage over the elite players in the league.

Howe was bigger than just about any forward in the league, and was also more skilled than just about any player in the league. The results of that combination were a PPG record of 1-1-1-1-4-2-1-1.

Lemieux was bigger than just about any forward in the league, and was also more skilled than just about any player in the league. The results of that combination were a PPG record of 2-3-1-1-4-1-1-1-1-8.

Lindros was bigger than just about any forward in the league, and in terms of skill he [footage missing]. The results of that combination were a PPG record of 3-1-3-2-6-4.

Even if you don’t want to trust the eye test, it’s not hard to fill in the missing information there.

 

[PattyLafontaine]

You just don't see tight end/defensive end type builds in the NHL that also have incredible hands with an absolutely vile mean streak.

Hard to compare him to modern players becuase the game is much more about skill and mostly of the nastiness has been toned down (for the good of player health).

Joe Thornton was never the same after getting caved in by Lindos in a fight. Thornton still had an amazing career but he was never the same as a goal scorer and played much more finesse game after that fight.

 

[fahad203]

If you lived through the Lindros era, you would get it and would avoid the petty jokes. For those who weren't from the era, he was one of the biggest guys playing, could skate very well, and had great hands/shot. Imagine Pat Maroon + another 20 pounds, but with great speed and fantastic hands. Hw was just that much bigger than everyone else. Defensemen would lose the puck out of fear when they both went into the corners together.

He made Canada's Olympic team at 19 years old. He was a phenom.

Problem was that in the OHL no one wanted to hit him, so he never had his head up. Had he learned to keep his head up, he would have had an Ovechkin type career. I see people mocking him here, but he was an absolute treat to watch in his prime.

Fans will never know what true hype was. Lindros coming out of juniors was something of an urban legend. Big guy who can absolutely fly, has hands, can hit, can fight. There was no stopping Eric, only containment

I was hearing about him early 90s through radio. Some giant kid considered the next great one. He lived up to every beat of hype. Every team was willing to trade their best players.

Eric was just insane

Closest anyone came in any sports would be Jonah Lomu, LeBron James, Aaron Judge

 

[carjackmalone]

Imagine Prime lindros on a line with Prome Bertuzzi ,the other winger would be the highest scoring mouse in history

 

[Magic Mittens]

As some mentioned. Ryan Getzlaf in his younger years and Todd Bertuzzi comes to mind as players with some similarities to Lindros, if they were a combined player maybe get close, but still not the same. Bertuzzi is probably the closest individual player to do so but not to the same degree.

There is a reason why him and his line were called:
Legion of Doom

John LeClair being his linemate was in the ballpark.
Keith Tkachuk and now Matthew and Brady. Brendan Shanahan. Jarome Iginla, a young Rick Nash, Milan Lucic, Corey Perry, Tom Wilson as mentioned.
There has been other bigger forwards with shorter stints of dominance / getting hot at times.
Johan Franzen has short stints, not the same bruising physicality over time though.
Josh Anderson probably had the potential of going there but didn't get the high numbers over time.

Why not now? Game is faster, most players leaner. Takes a specific natural build to keep up being big and physical over time.

I agree with the guys you named, but I'm surprised you left Benn off the list. Obviously Benn wasn't as nasty as Big E, or not quite as skilled, but I always felt Benn was the closet comparison when he played with more of an edge

 

[winnipegger]

Imagine if Dustin Byfuglien played center and had generational offensive tools. Maybe lindros could also hold Tyson barrie in one hand and ragdoll another player in his other hand? Big guys who can play are scary.

 

[Keystone]

I was gonna mention Byfuglien as well. Different positions yes, but possessing tremendous amounts of skill in a giant frame. Same kind of chaotic semi truck accident like bodychecks. Unicorns.
Loved watching lindros play.

 

[Wondercarrot]

Suuuuuuuuch a dick, it’s great he existed but then also great he got crushed.

 

[Cubs2024wildcard]

He had IQ

Um.....yeah....about that....

I'm as big a lindros fan as there is, but you cannot say somebody had IQ when they had a tendency to keep their head down.

You are taught very early to always keep your head up. Lindros got away with it in juniors on account of their being nobody else his size.

But you saw what happened to him when around similar sized players.

And Kasparitis....of course....

 

[MadLuke]

It is probably noisy, but apperently a bit less than 0.8% of Canadian males are 6 foot 4 or more.

Among them who happened to have a really strong build has well and athleticism, that just extremely rare.

After all that, being really good at an elite level at hockey regardless of those advantages, the total package is more than generational, like Mario before that, which we have yet to see again.

And he needs to have chosen hockey, someone like that will have a lot of do you want to play football, basketball and other sports talks growing up.