The Lindros family wrote a book after the 1991 draft to explain "their" side of the story. It still didn't make them look good. They wanted marketing available to Eric, they wanted money and not a small market. Even when they explained it, this is pretty much it came down to. The fact that they did the exact same thing in 1989 with the Greyhounds in the OHL makes you feel even less sorry for them, then and now. They were living in Toronto and Bonnie and Carl didn't want poor Eric playing all the way up in Sault Ste. Marie. Phil Esposito was the GM of the team at this time and to be honest he has said a lot less about this situation than Phil usually would for some reason. But they drafted Eric anyway, and why wouldn't they? Imagine licking your chops and knowing you can get Connor McDavid on your team. That's pretty much what it came down to.
If you want to play in the best league in the world you have to make sacrifices. Heck, aspiring Olympians have to do the same thing and they aren't getting million dollar contracts where they can retire comfortably at 30. Gretzky left home at 14-15 years old. Sure, it's tough, but nothing was stopping Lindros from hanging his skates up and punching in at a factory 5 days a week, so spare me Eric.........and Bonnie and Carl.
Basically what Lindros did was create the entitlement attitude that we see today in sports. It is all about "me". I don't like what is happening, call my agent. I'll just sit out if they don't trade me. Eric did this in the OHL, after he was drafted in the NHL, and partway through his NHL career. Every time Eric eventually got his way because he felt he was bigger than the team, and the game.
So you get drafted by a bottom feeder? Cry me a river. The Oilers weren't exactly a powerhouse in 1979 when he started there. This is where you turn this poor team into a championship, like, oh I don't know, Gretzky!
We can ask Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet (and Joe Sakic to an extent) about how to carve out a HHOF career playing in Quebec. They are in there comfortably. Eric isn't.