Eric Lindros

[Eye of Ra]

What type of impact did he have on the ice? Was he still physical? I know how good he was in Philly but there is not much talk about his Rangers-years.

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[eco's bones]

He'd been concussed at least half a dozen times as a Flyer--at least twice more as a Ranger. His physical game was still there a bit but it was a careful physical game. I think I remember him knocking out Joe Thornton in a fight. I also remember one of the concussions being off an innocent looking face off with the Sharks Mark Smith.

We had a toned down Eric Lindros--one that was out of the lineup for lengthy stretches. Hey, I can understand. IMO he should've seriously considered chucking his career altogether. It is what it is. It's not as if he hadn't concussed a ******** of opponents himself. He was still a pretty decent player but nothing like the most dominant forward in the league.

 

[ecemleafs]

Was very good his first year. Seemed to get concussion against San Jose on a nothing play and that was close to the end of him as a great player.

 

[Appleyard]

I know I am not a Rangers fan...

but his first season he was still very, very good. Top ten in NHL PPG, top five in GPG and led the league in EV Points per game.

 

[McSauer]

Imagine if that trade had gone through with Quebec? Him and Mess as our 1-2 punch down the middle?! Wow.

He's also the best player in NHL03 and already on the Rangers in that game, so I've enjoyed many 29 game seasons with him...once he put up 50 goals and 70 assists in that shortened season...

 

[ecemleafs]

Imagine if that trade had gone through with Quebec? Him and Mess as our 1-2 punch down the middle?! Wow.

He's also the best player in NHL03 and already on the Rangers in that game, so I've enjoyed many 29 game seasons with him...once he put up 50 goals and 70 assists in that shortened season...

Wed have won more than 1 cup in the 90s imo. We'd have had the 2 best centers of the era who played a powerful and mean game.

 

[Zil]

After the first year he just couldn't stay on the ice. I remember he looked good with Jagr during his last year here, but he got hurt after a handful of games together.

 

[NickyFotiu]

He really gave Joe Thornton a firm talking to. That was great. I thought Eric and Theo were past their primes but still very good players.

 

[True Blue]

He was a shadow of his former self. Man, he used to be thing to behold on the ice. An absolute monster. With SO MUCH skill.

 

[TheRedressor]

He was DOMINANT for the first half of the 2001-2002 season until that stupid Smith concussion in SJ. After that he was a perimeter player for the rest of that season. The 2002-2003 season was a joke, I think he played wing with Holik for a good chunk of time. He seemed to regain a little bit of his physicality and confidence in 2003-2004 and was pretty good but couldn't stay healthy.

 

[RangerFan23]

He really gave Joe Thornton a firm talking to. That was great. I thought Eric and Theo were past their primes but still very good players.

He actually shattered Thornton's face and he had to wear a cage for a while. Done while wearing those awful third jerseys from yesteryear (not the Lady Liberty's). Get on YouTube and look up some of Lindros fights from his early years and the OHL - such a beast

 

[alkurtz]

In his first weeks here he was tentative and played so as not to get hurt.

But then, as he gained confidence, and played on the Little Legion line with Fleury and Mike York, he became a dominant player for about two months.

I remember being in awe of how such a big man could have such soft hands with a deft touch. That line is one of my favorites; big Eric with two little guys.

As the Rangers hit January, they were challenging for the top spot and Lindros was being talked about as Hart Trophy candidate.

And then he got another concussion, from a seemingly minor hit and was never the same again.

But for that brief few months, we saw an incredible hockey player: as good a player as I've ever seen wear Ranger blue (my memories go back almost 60 years).

I will never say anything bad about Big E. What a great hockey player before he got hurt. Dominant in so many ways. He changed the way hockey was played, changed how teams drafted players, changed how teams made trades (even the Rangers after they were bounced out of the playoffs by the Flyers one year).

For a brief, shining period, we had that player.

 

[eco's bones]

Pavel Bure came on board towards the end of Eric's first season with the Rangers and Bure just lit it up. What a wonderful player he was too but like Eric he was an injury waiting to happen.

 

[pld459666]

What type of impact did he have on the ice? Was he still physical? I know how good he was in Philly but there is not much talk about his Rangers-years.

He was a shell of his former self. His game played contract INCENTED him NOT to play a physical style.

Had a decent season then was trash.

 

[RangerFan23]

But then, as he gained confidence, and played on the Little Legion line with Fleury and Mike York, he became a dominant player for about two months.

.

I like that ... always remember it as the FLY line

 

[alkurtz]

Yup; FLY line was its other name. Magic

 

[NickyFotiu]

He actually shattered Thornton's face and he had to wear a cage for a while. Done while wearing those awful third jerseys from yesteryear (not the Lady Liberty's). Get on YouTube and look up some of Lindros fights from his early years and the OHL - such a beast

LOL I remember. I was a huge Lindros fan. I felt like he was a great guy as a Ranger. I felt like Clarke tried to ruin his reputation. A firm talking to in my book is rearranging the other guys face.

 

[Synergy27]

Pavel Bure came on board towards the end of Eric's first season with the Rangers and Bure just lit it up. What a wonderful player he was too but like Eric he was an injury waiting to happen.

I was on a trip in Canada when the Bure trade happened and ended up getting to see his first game with the team in Ottawa. Man, that was some exciting stuff. The weight of the dark years hadn't fully killed all sense of hope by that point, but that did happen not long after.

The Lindros the Rangers had was a good player. Still a shadow of the ridiculously dominant in all facets player he was in the 90s though. There is no one in the current game to compare him to. Maybe a bigger, more well rounded Ovechkin?

 

[NickyFotiu]

Pavel Bure came on board towards the end of Eric's first season with the Rangers and Bure just lit it up. What a wonderful player he was too but like Eric he was an injury waiting to happen.

Bure was like Orr in that their knees were gone but even without knees they still dominated the game when they were able to dress.

 

[NickyFotiu]

While Lindros was not a 20 year old Lindros he still was arguably our best offensive forward when he played here.

 

[Leetch66]

Lindros was one of the best players that ever laced them up IMO until the concussions ruined him . Sadly....the good never lasted like Bossy-Bure-Orr-Lemieux . All were elite talents but all suffered from injuries that shortened their HOF careers and left the game far too early . I am sure there are many that I have also forgotten about .

Great thread...a little reminiscing sometimes is fun . We have no Ranger History thread STICKY.....that is a huge oversight IMO .....HUGE !

 

[Ola]

Anyone remember McCabe bouncing of him against Toronto? Big E streaked down the left side of the ice, McCabe timed him perfectly and it looked like he was going to Kronwall him more or less, but Lindros didn't miss a stride and McCabe went spinning in the air. Lindros was something else physically. At least AO times 1.5...

 

[KingDeathMetal]

As others pointed out, he was the same old dominant Lindros during that first season until the concussion in SJ. After that, he was like the worst seasons of Rick Nash - impactful, but not scoring and dominant as much because he would stay on the perimeter. Very frustrating to watch, but understandable.

The problem with the Rangers during that era was that we were always looking for that next savior. Lindros, Bure, Holik, Jagr (well, it kind of worked with Jagr). When you neglect to build an organization on the off-chance that one individual changes everything on their own, you wind up with an underperforming team with bad locker room culture. That's exactly what we were in those days.

 

[One Winged Angel]

I'll never forget the hat trick against Atlanta, that was the birth of the FLY line. It was the Mark Smith concussion (I remember watching that game at my friend James' house) that derailed that season for Lindros. He might have challenged Iginla for the Art Ross had that happened.

He was easily the most physically dominant player I've ever seen in any sport in his prime. He could do everything the game asked of someone. He was a top scorer and playmaker. He had an absolute cannon of a shot. Was a tremendous playmaker. He was a nasty SOB when it came to the physical aspect of the game. He was also a feared fighter.

If the trade went through, the Rangers would have lost some significant pieces to Quebec, but they would have been able to build around the most physically dominant 1-2 punch in the history of the NHL and probably would have won multiple cups.

 

[Kovy274Hart]

He was a shell of his former self. His game played contract INCENTED him NOT to play a physical style.

Had a decent season then was trash.

He was dominant in that first year until he had his bell rung in San Jose. That was the beginning of the end. Lindros went a point-per-game his first year here and fulfilled expectations. Unfortunately, he never recovered from that concussion. I often wonder what could've been had the rules been different along with concussion protocol. The Flyers had no clue how to handle him. He was proven right.

How much better or more dominant might he have been?