Was Lindros one of the dirtiest players of all time

[Creativero]

I’ve never seen a highlight reel of one guy making giving this many brutal headshots. I understand a lot of this is him retaliating for stuff we don’t see in these videos but is Lindros extremely underrated dirty player? You’re probably going to have to post a video to convince me. Scott Stevens was an angel compared to this guy.
See 1:35, 2:15,2:55,3:24,4:20,4:29,7:10,7:35,8:35,9:18,9:38,9:55,10:30,11:48,12:25 . The bold ones are particularly bad.

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[FrozenJagrt]

In an era that contained the likes of Marchment, Kasparaitis, McSorley, Domi, Hunter, Lemieux, Tucker, Samuelsson and Simon, I think it's pretty tough to pinpoint and single dirtiest player of the 90s, never mind of all time.

 

[Thenameless]

I don't think Lindros is even close to being one of the dirtiest players of all time. He is probably the most physical, offensively gifted player of all time though.

With respect to your observations about head shots; head shots weren't really considered so dirty back when he played. The NHL had no awareness of things like concussion protocol - these are more recent things. Add to that the fact that Lindros was a pretty big guy, and what would normally be a clean hit for most people might often become a head-shot when he delivers it.

 

[Rogue Winger]

Lindros was definitely not the dirtiest player of all tine, not even dirtiest of his era.

Many (if not most) of those Lindos highlight hits above were considered just as good hits back then, not especially dirty.

They may look dirty now, but 90's was a different era with different playing style. Rock 'em, Sock' em hockey.

 

[Albatros]

In an era that contained the likes of Marchment, Kasparaitis, McSorley, Domi, Hunter, Lemieux, Tucker, Samuelsson and Simon, I think it's pretty tough to pinpoint and single dirtiest player of the 90s, never mind of all time.

Highlighted the answer for you.

 

[NYR94]

Lindros was a physical force in a very physical era when he was not injured. I never considered him dirty. Just a wrecking ball. He destroyed one of the Senators back in the late 90s. I think it was Dackell or Arvidsson.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Guys like Marchment and Hunter were dirtier, but Lindros is on the short list of dirtiest superstars of modern times.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Dirtier among "star" players, sure, but I don't think just in his era he even holds a candle to guys like Marchment and Suter...

 

[Rich Nixon]

The stiff-arm on Hasek (0:40 in the second vid) kills me every time. Him raising his arms like "I didn't do anything" is the chef's kiss.

 

[The Panther]

In this era? Dirtiest must be one of the guys mentioned, or maybe Chris Chelios.

Least sportsmanlike? Claude Lemieux.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Lindros is the definition of "product of his time". Definitely not the dirtiest but ran along that edge.

 

[frisco]

Lindros was out to hurt guys with what were then considered "clean" hits. The same could be said for 100 other guys of the same era, though. The thing is if he would've dialed it down a little he wouldn't have had half the league out for retribution for the last eight years of his career.

My Best-Carey

 

[Canadiens1958]

Eric Lindros was a reckless player without respect for his own or the safety of other players.

 

[Nick Hansen]

Yeah, this is one you gotta watch the players relative to their era. Lindros was just bigger and stronger than anyone else.

Matt Cooke I always thought was a piece of garbage. Raffi Torres also did a lot of bullshit stuff.

 

[Creativero]

I don't think Lindros is even close to being one of the dirtiest players of all time. He is probably the most physical, offensively gifted player of all time though.

With respect to your observations about head shots; head shots weren't really considered so dirty back when he played. The NHL had no awareness of things like concussion protocol - these are more recent things. Add to that the fact that Lindros was a pretty big guy, and what would normally be a clean hit for most people might often become a head-shot when he delivers it.

I talking about the stuff where he drives what appears to be a small child’s head into the ice with his elbow or head butts Scott Stevens or punches a guy in the face while he’s laying flat on his back. There so many dirty hits in thous highlights it’s all most pointless to single out anyone.

 

[Legionnaire11]

Highlight videos don't do anyone justice to their career. If you take any player's 20 biggest hits and put them into a five minute video, they're going to seem like a vicious hitter. But if that's all you have out of a 1000 game career, then what were they really? Lindros definitely imposed his will physically in the first 2-3 seasons, but after that he was much more focused on his skill game. He was a bad dude for sure, but as has been mentioned repeatedly here, that was pretty much the game at that time, and it was pretty incredible.

I like the mention of making Stevens look relatively soft, since most people view their relationship as Stevens KOing Lindros and assume that he owned Lindros, but for the better part of their careers Lindros got the best of Stevens physically.

 

[MXD]

I'd call him careless and reckless (rather than dirty) if we're trying to keep an all-time perspective on things. I'm trying to think of a super dirty play by Lindros and, really, the only one that comes to mind is his hit on Andreas Dackell.

 

[Creativero]

Lindros was out to hurt guys with what were then considered "clean" hits. The same could be said for 100 other guys of the same era, though. The thing is if he would've dialed it down a little he wouldn't have had half the league out for retribution for the last eight years of his career.

My Best-Carey

If you watch that video there probably 10 hits where he literally punch's guy in the face/head butts/ drives a guys head into the ice. He really is under rated for dirtiness. I can’t find another video on YouTube close to that.

 

[Creativero]

I'd call him careless and reckless (rather than dirty) if we're trying to keep an all-time perspective on things. I'm trying to think of a super dirty play by Lindros and, really, the only one that comes to mind is his hit on Andreas Dackell.

Dude just check out the video. The Dackell is nothing compared to some of the stuff in terms of dirty plays. That’s just a late hard hit.

 

[K Fleur]

Lindros' "hit" on Dimaio remains one of the most violent things I've seen in this sport.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Highlight videos don't do anyone justice to their career. If you take any player's 20 biggest hits and put them into a five minute video, they're going to seem like a vicious hitter. But if that's all you have out of a 1000 game career, then what were they really? Lindros definitely imposed his will physically in the first 2-3 seasons, but after that he was much more focused on his skill game. He was a bad dude for sure, but as has been mentioned repeatedly here, that was pretty much the game at that time, and it was pretty incredible.

I like the mention of making Stevens look relatively soft, since most people view their relationship as Stevens KOing Lindros and assume that he owned Lindros, but for the better part of their careers Lindros got the better of Stevens physically.

Gunslingers are remembered for the one loss.

 

[Legionnaire11]

Lindros' "hit" on Dimaio remains one of the most violent things I've seen in this sport.

and later that season became teammates when DiMaio was traded to the Flyers!

 

[The Panther]

I mean, this is the League that Lindros lived in. If you wanted to hit people (and why wouldn't he, given his size?), you were going to get hit and sometimes in highly dangerous, illegal ways.

For example, one of the worst hockey hits I've ever seen -- Gino Odjick on Lindros, New Year's Eve 1997:

 

[Stephen]

In an era that contained the likes of Marchment, Kasparaitis, McSorley, Domi, Hunter, Lemieux, Tucker, Samuelsson and Simon, I think it's pretty tough to pinpoint and single dirtiest player of the 90s, never mind of all time.

Definitely a generation raised on leaded gas.

 

[The Panther]

Definitely a generation raised on leaded gas.

I believe the reason the 70s-to-late-90s (?) "goon" era happened in the first place is that the NHL is -- inevitably -- the slowest major sports League to protect talented, 'star' players from being crippled. Nobody even tried to referee NHL games according to the rule-book until 2005. Since the refs (League) weren't going to protect million-dollar athletes from injury and illegal hits, the "goons" were required.