Should the flyers have kept Forsberg?

[Byron Bitz]

If you could go back to the day of the trade would you undo it and have Forsberg play his entire career as a flyer? tough call Lindros and Forsberg were both dope players. I personally would have kept Forsberg, Lindros' cuncussions are what make the difference for me

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[pughater]

no doubt lindros for me. he was the reason the flyers became dominate. as far as forsberg is concerned you can talk apples to oranges. no guarentee he would of flourished here without sakic and others. lets no doubt ourselves here lindros was awesome

 

[kyuss]

This is one of, and possibly the greatest, Flyers "what if". As I see it, Forsberg and Lindros are a wash. It sucked losing the other players to acquire Lindros, but the Flyers weren't getting a cup with all of them. As much as I loved Hextall, he wasn't bringing a cup home after the groin/knee injuries.

 

[lancer247]

If you could go back to the day of the trade would you undo it and have Forsberg play his entire career as a flyer? tough call Lindros and Forsberg were both dope players. I personally would have kept Forsberg, Lindros' cuncussions are what make the difference for me

Forsberg didn't have the star appeal that Lindros did to help the Flyers sell the luxury boxes in a new arena.

Forsberg was a sick talent surrounded by other sick players but that team didn't make it out of the 1st round until they got Roy.

That would have been a stacked team if they kept Forsberg and the other talent they gave up for Lindros.

Recchi - Forsberg- Zubrus
Dineen(?)- Brindamour - Reneberg
Simon - Ricci - D'Maio




Choosing Ricci over Jagr was propbaly the bigger mistake.

 

[JDinkalage Morgoone]

Jagr was unranked by NHL scouts during that draft LOL

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I thought there was a chance we could have acquired Lindros without including Forsberg in the trade?

Anyway Lindros was one the most dominate players to ever lace them up during his heyday. To watch him and Leclair every night was a real treat for Flyers fans. It's a shame those guys never won a cup here.

I think Lindros should be in the HOF and hopefully he gets in this year. I've always said if there's a spot for Cam Neely there's a spot for Lindros. No disrespect to Neely but he was never considered the best in player in the world like Lindros was for most of the 90's. I think Bure getting last year also helps strengthen Lindros' case even more. I guess we'll see if he gets the call this year.

 

[The Couturier Effect]

I thought there was a chance we could have acquired Lindros without including Forsberg in the trade?

Anyway Lindros was one the most dominate players to ever lace them up during his heyday. To watch him and Leclair every night was a real treat for Flyers fans. It's a shame those guys never won a cup here.

I think Lindros should be in the HOF and hopefully he gets in this year. I've always said if there's a spot for Cam Neely there's a spot for Lindros. No disrespect to Neely but he's was never considered the best in player in the world like Lindros was for most of the 90's. I think Bure getting last year helps strengthen Lindros' case ever more. I guess we'll see if he gets the call this year.

He'll be in the HOF. It might take some time, but he'll get in. Like you said, Bure and Neely are in so there's gotta be a spot for Lindros.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

He'll be in the HOF. It might take some time, but he'll get in. Like you said, Bure and Neely are in so there's gotta be a spot for Lindros.

Yeah it would be cool to see #88 back in the WFC one more time to get his banner raised in the rafters.

 

[Tank To Win]

I thought there was a chance we could have acquired Lindros without including Forsberg in the trade?
Anyway Lindros was one the most dominate players to ever lace them up during his heyday. To watch him and Leclair every night was a real treat for Flyers fans. It's a shame those guys never won a cup here.

I think Lindros should be in the HOF and hopefully he gets in this year. I've always said if there's a spot for Cam Neely there's a spot for Lindros. No disrespect to Neely but he was never considered the best in player in the world like Lindros was for most of the 90's. I think Bure getting last year also helps strengthen Lindros' case even more. I guess we'll see if he gets the call this year.

Quebec originally wanted Brind'amour. The Flyers convinced them to take Forsberg instead.

 

[FlyersFan61290]

Yeah it would be cool to see #88 back in the WFC one more time to get his banner raised in the rafters.

That would be great. I would def be in attendance

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Quebec originally wanted Brind'amour. The Flyers convinced them to take Forsberg instead.

Yeah i knew one of our euro scouts basically had to fight with Jay Snider just to draft Forsberg in the first place.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

That would be great. I would def be in attendance

Yeah same here. The Mark Howe one was cool last year. I would expect a Lindros one to be even better.

 

[chimrichalds18]

I would definitely undo it -- and this is coming from someone who wore 88 his whole life because of Lindros. No way of knowing what would have happened, but since we know that a Lindros-centric team didn't get it done (and knowing what Forsberg achieved), you'd almost have to undo it. Just like how I'd undo the Pronger trade, but that's a different thread...

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I would definitely undo it -- and this is coming from someone who wore 88 his whole life because of Lindros. No way of knowing what would have happened, but since we know that a Lindros-centric team didn't get it done (and knowing what Forsberg achieved), you'd almost have to undo it. Just like how I'd undo the Pronger trade, but that's a different thread...

I would have to disagree with this. Forberg was definitely one of the best players in the NHL around late 90's early 2000's but he benefited from playing on stacked teams. If you switch Forsberg for Lindros I think we get the same result honestly. We never had the goaltending or defense during Lindros' time here.

 

[Toonces]

Nope, I wouldn't.

Lindros was so amazing to watch. He was unlike anything we had ever seen, and probably will ever see. No player has ever had his size and skill set, and watching him dominate the league, even as injury prone as he may have been, was something I wouldn't trade for anything, except maybe a Cup, but Forsberg wouldn't have gaurenteed that by any means.

I was 12 when Lindros was drafted, and a very young and impressionable hockey player. The first time I watched him play I was in awe, and tried to pattern my game off him. To this day, I still do crossovers like he did, and his little half slap shot, I practiced that for months, upon months, and never quite got it.

I'm nostalgic a bit, I'll admit that.

 

[FlyingHigh28*]

I would definitely undo it -- and this is coming from someone who wore 88 his whole life because of Lindros. No way of knowing what would have happened, but since we know that a Lindros-centric team didn't get it done (and knowing what Forsberg achieved), you'd almost have to undo it. Just like how I'd undo the Pronger trade, but that's a different thread...

This question really digs down deep the core of Flyers fans and the way posters answer gives you some insight into what type of fan they are.

For me, it's simple; As much as I loved watching Lindros play his career in O&B (my favorite Flyer growing up and to this date my favorite Flyer EVER), he never won us a cup. Thus if you ask me to choose between Lindros (whose career didn't get us a cup) and some alternate path (Forsberg), where it's unknown, I'll take the alternate path. Even the slightest chance that Forsberg might've gotten us a Cup is better than the certainty of no Stanley Cup that comes with choosing Lindros.

I'm all about seeing this team win a cup in my lifetime. The success of the team over all else. For some other posters here, I'm figuring out that their fandom is much more about pride (some might even say foolish pride) and the experience. They wouldn't trade the opportunity to have rooted for Lindros for anything (not even for a better chance at a cup).

You can see the same thing in the way certain people respond to moves made by our GM. That's something for another thread, but you can certainly see those fans who revel in the pride of competing hard every year and never tanking butting heads with those fans who care most about winning a cup.

 

[Toonces]

What’s past is past, and there is no sense in living in it. I value my experiences as a kid, and I wouldn’t change them, because they’re part of who I am at this moment. That’s part of what this question is asking, would you change your core makeup, your defining experiences as a Flyers fan for the unknown? I want to see a Cup as bad as anybody, I’d trade quite a bit that’s important to me for it, but in all honesty, no, it isn’t worth that price to me.

There is no wrong answer here, no “you’re less of a fan because you believe x instead of y”. We all want to see this team succeed, and bring a little extra happiness to our own, as well as other fans lives.

 

[hiptanaka]

Irrespective of, and minus the concussions, Lindros was the real deal and a generational talent. Forsberg was no slouch obviously, but there has yet to be a player in the last 20+ years who combined Lindros's sheer strength, size, talent, finesse, hands, etc. He was hyped for a reason, and when healthy, lived up to it.

 

[Protest]

If the Flyers had drafted Jagr, then I would have preferred to keep Forsberg.

 

[RoDu]

if only Lindros learned to keep his head up

 

[RJ8812*]

Quebec originally wanted Brind'amour. The Flyers convinced them to take Forsberg instead.

****, I never knew that. So we could have had Lindros and Forsberg?

*****, *****

 

[Appleyard]

Only Lemieux and Jagr had more points per game in the 90's than Lindros. Up until Lindros was concussed to heck he was only behind Gretzky and Lemieux in career progression in terms of time to reach milestones.

Lindros's career figures were slightly better than Crosby's up to this point in his career, and if you add up the amount of goalscoring each season the figures for how many goals per game teams scored were close to identical. Plus he brought so much more than Crosby apart from scoring.

Lindros was also one of the biggest hitters in the league.

Lindros also has the best fight win percentage of anyone with over 30 fights.

I'd take Lindros every time over Forsberg.

If I could change anything I'd go back and change the hitting rules to what they are now... and I imagine Lindros would still be playing.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Yeah i knew one of our euro scouts basically had to fight with Jay Snider just to draft Forsberg in the first place.

Inge Hammarstrom was the scout most associated with the drafting of Forsberg under both Russ Farwell (GM, who also was very high on Forsberg) and Jay Snider. In the 1994 Draft, when Clarke returned after being with the Panthers, Hammarstrom and Jerry Melynk basically ran the show. Because of the lack of high picks, Artem Anisimov, in the 60s was the team's first selection and later Alexander Selivanov, two more picks basically made by Hammarstrom.

Second-guessing is part of sport, any sport. But had Quebec not been transferred to Colorado, a Patrick Roy trade from Montreal-to-Quebec would not have been made and perhaps Forsberg doesn't win any Cups but that is pure speculation since history would be changed.

Lindros was an extra special player, a more known commodity than Forsberg at that point in time. One other thought and how cards fall in your favor sometimes: New Jersey traded Tom Kurvers to Toronto for the Leafs' #1 pick in 1991 - more than a year in advance, with the hope that the pick would be number one overall and their chances of drafting Lindros would increase. Kurvers refused (later played) to report to Toronto and there talk the trade could be changed or even nullified; it wasn't. The pick became number 3 overall (San Jose took Pat Falloon at #2) and the Devils chose Scott Niedermayer.

 

[kicksave27]

The WFC is the house lindros built. Until the injuries really slowed him, he was the best true power forward you'll ever see, every kid in philly with good size gets compared to lindros, but they just don't have his physicality. The guy was a linebacker on skates. As good as forsberg was, lindros was more fun to watch just destroy guys while he put up his points.

 

[Mgkibbles]

How the hell did Lindros end up with more games played than Forsberg?