After 14 injury-filled seasons in the NHL Eric Lindros is finally hanging up his skates for good. What will his legacy be? I guess time will tell.
A more interesting question is whether or not he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. If you ask me, the answer is yes.
Why, you might ask. And I can totally see where those are coming from who say he shouldn't. Eric Lindros is not the greatest advocate for the game, nor is he a great team player. He isn't the most liked guy in the league, and he constantly put himself ahead of his team, twice refusing to play for the team that drafted him.
The simple reason that I believe he should be a member of the Hall is that Cam Neely is. Neely was a fantastic power forward, much like Lindros, and his career stats are about the same as those of Lindros, but he never got to hoist the Stanley Cup with his beloved Bruins, just like Lindros never did with any team he played for. I think it will be hard to keep Lindros out since they did induct Neely.
I also think one reason that the Boston center was inducted was much thanks to his popularity. Cam Neely was a gentleman player who was well liked all around the NHL by both fans and players, which again, can't be said about Big E. But surely that is not reason enough to not grant him a place in the Hall of Fame.
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Some facts about Big E,
In 1990 he refused to play for the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League and was traded off to the Oshawa Generals. Then in 1992, after being drafted by the Quebec Nordiques, he once again refused to play (he even refused to wear the Nordiques jersey at the draft). This eventually led to one of the most one-sided transfers in NHL history as Lindros was shipped off to Philadelphia for, among others, Ron Hextall, Peter Forsberg, Chris Simon, Mike Ricci, a couple of draft picks, and $15 million.
In his first five seasons with the Flyers he was a dominant presence on the ice, averaging around a pointy per game. He was awarded both the Hart Trophy, as the league MVP, and the Lester B. Pearson Award in the shortened 1995 season. In 1997 he captained the Flyers to the Stanley Cup final, where they were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in four games.
Eric Lindros also played with the New York Rangers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Dallas Stars and has 372 goals and 865 points in 760 games between 1992 and 2007.
2 comments:
What is interesting, concerning whether Lindros is a worthy HOF induction candidate, is that every Canadian website poll show roughly the same results in reference to the court of public opinion:
NO-70%
YES-30%.
Personally, I think there are just as many pros as cons which an induction hinges on for the Big E. Lindros was arguably the League's best player for a few years in the nineties. But since we are talking about the Hockey Hall of Fame it is important to remember that it is also a partly-skimmed political institution.
I'm not sure if I feel that #88 ever was THE best player on the planet but to include him in the top three surely gives him HOF consideration. However, something I despise are players who think they hover above the sport and make managerial decisions for themselves. Lindros didn't waste any time in doing so as he launched his junior career by shunning the Greyhounds and then, as everyone saw, turning his back on the Nordiques on draft day.
The Cam Neely argument, pushing the Big E for an HOF entry, does have merit as they did have quite similar careers shortened by injuries. But because of political reasons, I don't think Lindros' induction will be a speedy affair.
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One of the coolest "non-academic" descriptions of Cam Neely I ever heard was given by comedian and Bruin fan Dennis Leary when Neely entered the famed halls in Toronto: Neely would hop over the boards, drop the gloves, take on two guys, sit out 5 or 10 minutes, come back out on the ice and score three goals for a win.
I do think he will be inducted but, like you pointed out, it won't happen a day before the date he becomes eligible, if that soon even.
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