Neely needed seven attempts to get in the HHOF. Lindros has been eligible once. It's not really a fair comparison.
Neely's only real strike is longevity. When you look at Neely - all that he did, all he could do, all that he meant to the game, and what he did when the games mattered most - it's a pretty incredible resume. It's just that he played 700 games, and basically had an interrupted, eight-year prime in which he missed two-and-a-half seasons. His performance in 1988 wasn't a fluke - he surpassed that performance several times over.
Lindros is a polarizing player. It's not just a popularity thing. Yeah, we don't like Eric because he wouldn't go to Quebec (or a lot of teams for that matter). We were rubbed the wrong way by his cockiness, his arrogance, the beer-spitting incident in his rookie campaign. But the name Eric Lindros doesn't conjure up the fondest memories. If you ask 10 people about Lindros, you have no idea what you might get. Some will rave about him. Others wouldn't want anything to do with him, or the next Lindros.
For five years, he was incredible. Hart Trophy in 1995. Second-team all-star in 1995-96. (When there were half-a-dozen serious contenders for all-star spots). MVP for a Cup finalist in 1997. (Granted, he didn't play well in the final, but he was a force in the first three rounds). He might have been at his best in 1998-99, but suffered a collapsed lung late in the season, missed the playoffs, and had a major falling out with Bobby Clarke. (The seeds of a strained relationship were strained after the 1998 Olympics, but then things really deteriorated after the lung injury).
After 1999, his career went off the rails. Yes, there were concussion issues. He sulked in his last year in Philly. But he became a suitcase. He struggled at times in New York. He struggled in Toronto. He struggled in Dallas. He was a shell of what he used to be. He often looked to be in cruise control, a guy just accepting a paycheck. The aggressiveness, the intensity and the work ethic were gone. There were some good moments in New York, and he won a gold medal in the 02 Olympics in a support role. But the dominant, forceful Big E was gone.
You can't talk about Lindros without talking about how great he was from 1995 to 1999. And you can't talk about Lindros without talking about the guy who often floated and coasted from 1999 to 2007.
I've often criticized the HHOF for the size of its selection committee. I love the make-up of it - former players, coaches, managers; guys who look beyond the numbers. I just wish it was bigger. I wish there were 36 or 40 or 50 of those guys instead of 18, with a requisite of 28 or 32 or 38 votes to get inducted. I think a larger committee would reduce the risk of some of the softer inductions. I'm not as critical of Dick Duff's induction or Dino Ciccarelli's induction as some people, but I wouldn't have voted for them.
At the same time, a small selection committee does punish a guy like Lindros. It might have helped a guy like Clarke Gillies; it punishes Lindros. You'll find people out there, like one of my favourites, the great Ray Scapinello, who think that Lindros should absolutely be a shoo-in for the HHOF. But there's a lot of people out there who'll never vote for him, for the reasons I outlined earlier. And all it will take each year is four of those people. Eric's in for a long wait, probably longer than Neely.
