Eric Lindros

[Ruck Over]

There was a play during the SCF when Eric had his stick knocked out of his hands, picked it up upside down, then controlled the puck behind the Detroit net for 6-7 seconds(?) using the butt-end.

I was 14 during the season, became a "real" fan the year before, and was crushed when they lost.

Lindros was amazing, yet somehow unsatisfying. A lot of it was hot air pushed by Clarke via the local media. It was great when he just took over a game and literally just did whatever he wanted, and those few games he didn't, it was curious, as in, "Hey doofus man-child, take over the game already, we're losing!" It was non-sensical.

I look back on those teams and we were so close, and he was the straw the stirred the drink. Had a little case to be made for lacking forward depth (Oh 3 M line, how I miss you so), but that team should've won more if the goalie situation was better by 25%.

Very happy for him and his on his election to the HHoF. He deserved to be treated a bit better than he was in hind sight.

Also, agree he probably shouldn't have been the captain initially. But he never shirked it, and laid on every negative comment and grenade thrown the teams way. That says a lot.
And in retrospect, Lindros is the anti-McNabb- favorite son who became greater than his career (Lindros) rather than subtracting from those highs (McNabb).

 

[Eye of Ra]

Btw, Renberg said in a swedish interview that Lindros is by a land mile the best player he has ever played with. Keep in mind, Renberg have played a lot with with Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg. Thats some high praise he gave Lindros.

 

[lancer247]

no one before or since matches his size, strength, speed, skill, demeanor, and physicality combination.
Jamie Benn is probably the closest.

I was watching a couple of games from the 90s and it is embarrassing what players were allowed to get away with on Lindros. They would always say he gets leeway to protect himself but I M sure he Flyers would have preferred to get the power plays.

I wish he had just been able to keep his head up.

 

[baudib1]

Lindros never got the star calls that Gretzky and Lemieux did, in large part because he could take care of himself. Also, he was pretty nasty himself.

That said, I'd put him only behind 66 and 99 as far as impact on a game in their prime. Watched him dominate Messier and Leetch and Richter by himself in two ECF series.

I think my favorite Lindros game though was the series clincher against Tampa Bay in 1996 where he was first star of the game without scoring a point.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Btw, Renberg said in a swedish interview that Lindros is by a land mile the best player he has ever played with. Keep in mind, Renberg have played a lot with with Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg. Thats some high praise he gave Lindros.

Unimpressed. Had he said nautical mile, this statement would have more weight IMO.

 

[Hiesenberg]

Unimpressed. Had he said nautical mile, this statement would have more weight IMO.

I haven idea why I found that as funny as I did.

 

[Bob Clarke Fan Club]

He may have been the freakiest talent the NHL has ever seen. Sadly, he couldn't exist in today's recreational version of the game. Much like Hextall...I was blessed to be able to watch this game pre-Bettman.

 

[JWEKD]

He may have been the freakiest talent the NHL has ever seen. Sadly, he couldn't exist in today's recreational version of the game. Much like Hextall...I was blessed to be able to watch this game pre-Bettman.

Imo the opposite would be true. You can still hit people and create contact as long as it's clean. Lindros wouldn't have to worry about or be the victim of as many headshots, his career wouldn't be shortened. Plus, the dynamic skaters and stick handlers who are muted by interference in today's game, are oftentimes smaller, weaker players. Lindros's combo of size and skill could allow him to neutralize the marginal talent's advantages that have grown since the first lockout.

 

[Rebels57]

He may have been the freakiest talent the NHL has ever seen. Sadly, he couldn't exist in today's recreational version of the game. Much like Hextall...I was blessed to be able to watch this game pre-Bettman.

Why would he not be able to exist? Headshots are banned now, which was his being downfall.

Do you mean because of how tight things are defensively?

 

[Bob Clarke Fan Club]

Why would he not be able to exist? Headshots are banned now, which was his being downfall.

Do you mean because of how tight things are defensively?

He'd be forever suspended, there's so much grey area nowadays. Eric never saw a guy with his head down he didn't like to destroy. Guys used to pay a price for playing with their heads down, 88 lived and died by the same sword. He had the most physical attributes of any skilled player I've ever seen, he also may have had the filthiest mean streak of any NHL'er to ever lace them up. I suppose in a perfect world if he'd been brought up nowadays watching the game, he'd maybe be more of a Jamie Benn type player. It's just hard to imagine him without the viciousness and bite to his game. I see your point though.

 

[Ruck Over]

Think it was a SonsofPenn podcast, but I heard the funniest thing about Lindros. He took so many headshots because he played with his head down and a ridiculously heavy wooden stick. Had he the composite sticks of today, he'd be able to feel the puck on his stick, and not need to look down at it to ensure it was on the blade still, ergo, longer healthier career. An unfortunate result though would be more minor penalties for the stick work, broken composite sticks don't keep secrets like lumber.

 

[Appleyard]

The most ridiculous thing with Lindros is that by today's standards the only concussion giving hit he took that would be clean was the Hal Gill one...


Also, I personally think the whole 'Lindros head down' thing is overplayed. The guy skated really quite 'tall' style wise and was constantly surveying the ice when he had the puck... hence why he was such a great playmaker, he generally knew where all his teammates were all the time.

But he had a bad habit of looking at the puck for longer than most players when receiving a pass. All players look... but generally for about half the amount of time Lindros did. Most of the times he got nailed with head down it was not long after receiving the puck.

The way people speak about him you would think he was skating around head down all the time, which was not really the case.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Lindros wasn't different than any other players with a physical bone in their body from that era when it came to dirty play. He was just more naturally gifted than the others so his transgressions could tend to be more violent. Those guys did what the league allowed them do that's all. They were product of their environments. You put the same rules (or lack thereof) in place today & the players today would be doing the same thing. It's no different if you put guys from that era in today's game. The players are always going to adjust based on how the league dictates things.

 

[oldfly88]

I think the one thing that will always bother me more than anything else regarding Eric and the LOD is the fact that the NHL felt it necessary to rob the Flyers of one of their greatest weapons of that era which was scoring junk goals in or around the crease. There was simply no way any other team could stop it so the NHL stepped in and lead the way by overruling any goal when even the tip of the skate blade was inside the blue colored crease area. It was a farce and ruined the continuity of the game in many ways. Then along came Brett Hull who scored the Stanley Cup winner from well inside the crease vs Dominik Hasek and the Sabres. What a joke. If Sid and Malkin had developed an amazing ability to score in tight like that do you think that rule would have been put in place??? This is a long-standing agenda with the NHL against the Flyers ever since Clarkie and the boys beat the hell out of the Habs physically and hurt a lot of feelings at the NHL headquarters. My opinions lol....

 

[OriginJM]

pretty much one of my top 3 players all time. I try and dominate online as him every year in the NHL series.

he skated around and through players, the perfect package any given night. I really wish we got to see more of him. In college when I took breaks from studying I would just watch Lindros highlights forever.

I don't know how long it'll be until a freak like him pops up again

 

[bobbythebrain]

Favorite Lindros moment is when he crushed a player and the line attacked him, him and Brown went back to back punching everything that came at them.
Lindros was far and away my favorite Flyer. Too bad it was a short career

 

[Bob Clarke Fan Club]

The most ridiculous thing with Lindros is that by today's standards the only concussion giving hit he took that would be clean was the Hal Gill one...


Also, I personally think the whole 'Lindros head down' thing is overplayed. The guy skated really quite 'tall' style wise and was constantly surveying the ice when he had the puck... hence why he was such a great playmaker, he generally knew where all his teammates were all the time.

But he had a bad habit of looking at the puck for longer than most players when receiving a pass. All players look... but generally for about half the amount of time Lindros did. Most of the times he got nailed with head down it was not long after receiving the puck.

The way people speak about him you would think he was skating around head down all the time, which was not really the case.

Not sure that he ever had to worry growing up and playing minor hockey. As others have stated, his quickest route around a defenseman growing up was probably to just skate over him.

 

[baudib1]

I guess everyone has seen highlights but I suppose the best way to describe Lindros is he was a combination of Ovechkin, Malkin, Benn with more size.

The underrated part of Lindros' game was his creativity. He had amazing size and strength and speed and skill, and he would come up with unusual ways to utilize them.

I remember a game in his rookie year where Lindros slapped the puck off the stick of a rushing Scott Niedermayer, who was shocked, and went the other way and scored on a breakaway. I think the Devils decided Niedermayer would never play against Lindros again, ironically setting up so many unfortunate episodes to come.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I always liked the story of the Rangers pitching Joel Otto on being their answer to stoping Lindros when he was a free agent. They indirectly pushed him to sign with the Flyers instead with their pitch.

 

[baudib1]

Never heard that story before but it makes sense.

Before Lindros, Otto was the prototype of a big, mean, nasty center.

Messier was the ideal combo of skill and nastiness.

Lemieux was the best combo of skill and size.

Lindros is the guy who had all of those things.

 

[OriginJM]

well put

 

[captainpaxil]

He was sincerely the most dominant player ive ever seen in any sport. A bonafide superstar.

 

[Coffe]

Unimpressed. Had he said nautical mile, this statement would have more weight IMO.

Well, he lives in a country that uses Scandinavian miles though, which is 10 km. Or ~6.2 land miles if you wish.

 

[SchatzY]

Hi guys, have lurked here for awhile now. Being born in 86 and growing up watching the Flyers I have never seen a more physically dominant athlete than Eric Lindros. He could do absolutely anything he wanted to do on the ice, and mean anything.



Being a huge hockey fan as well there are two players I would love to see what would happen if their careers started today. One is obviously Lindros, and the other would be Pavel Bure. I couldn't imagine what these two would do in today's league.

 

[baudib1]

One of the most amazing seasons in NHL history, IMO, is the year where Bure scored 59 goals, 33 assists, and the next-leading scorer on his team had 14 goals, 37 points.