Lindros 2012 comeback with Flyers

[ForsbergForever]

https://www.tsn.ca/flyers-offered-lindros-a-comeback-in-2012-1.606040

After a great showing in the Dec. 31, 2011 alumni game, Flyers President Paul Holgren offered Eric Lindros a contract to play for the rest of the 2011-12 season. Holmgren figured if Jagr was doing as well as he was, Lindros could do the same while playing limited minutes. Lindros declined of course, thinking that he no longer had what it took to play.

I think its a great what-if, granted he hadn't played in four years but he was still only 38 and even if he didn't set the ice on fire, I think he could still have been a solid contributor and if anything, an inspiration to the younger guys on the team. Flyers lineup might have looked something like this...

Briere-Giroux-Voracek
Hartnell-Lindros-Jagr
Van Riemsdyk-Schenn-Simmonds
Talbot-Couturier-Read

Pronger-Timonen
Meszaros-Carle
Kubina-Coburn

Bobrovsky
Bryzgalov

Click to read more...

 

[K Fleur]

A contract offered mid season due to a good showing in an old timers game...

This isn’t a Jagr or Mario type scenario where a player who clearly still had more left in the tank left the NHL for a few years. Lindros was clearly done as an NHL player in Dallas.

I think all logical answers to this “great what if” are bad for Lindros and the Flyers.

 

[KMart27]

I think it is safe to say he felt he was done as an NHLer and safe to say he was comfortable with that. I'm also guessing he didn't need the money. So really his only incentive would be the potential of winning a Stanley Cup (great incentive of course) but if he felt he couldn't play at a high enough level to contribute that even negates the incentive. Then there is the risk of another concussion.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Bottom line minutes with some powerplay time might've gotten him in game shape and kept him less injury prone, come playoff time he could've been a force or great depth player, all depends on his health and humility.

 

[ColeJ]

i think he was absolutely done as a player by the time he arrived in dallas. he was a great teammate here, and it was an honor to see him wear a stars sweater... but he certainly wasn't going to be an option at 2C for ANYONE, even in 07. Let alone years later.

In Dallas, he knew it was time to hang it up when he asked to play wing. He said playing center was just too much to deal with, and he found himself scared to go into the parts of the ice a centerman is expected to go. He became more of a perimeter player, and that's just never been his game. You can't take an old banged up Eric Lindros and put him in a Brett Hull (or more like Scott Young) sniper role.

Yeah, it would have been cool to see him back in a Flyers sweater, but that's just a pipe-dream. It would be like offering a contract to Mike Modano right now. He was done even before he retired. At this point, it'd just embarrassing.

 

[Laineux]

It would be a miracle if a 28 year old player could recover to be a succesful NHLer after 4 year break from professional hockey, let alone a 38 year old who was already washed up when he retired.

 

[Anton13]

If the story is true you have to really question Holmgren’s competence as an nhl gm. Lindros was a truly great player but the idea that he could have made a comeback in 2012 is beyond ridicilous.