Eric Lindros, Is he a Hall of Famer?

In 1991, Eric Lindros was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques. He knew that he was going to get a big first contract as he was the consensus number 1 pick.  He did not want to play for the Nordiques because at the time the Canadian Exchange rate was not beneficial to him.  So he basically forced one of the biggest trades in NHL History.  On June 30, 1992 he was traded from the Nordiques to the Flyers for Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchene, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall and Philadelphia’s #1 pick in 1993.  Lindros went on to a great injury plagued career but the Nordiques and then eventually the Colorado Avalanche made out with this trade as the cornerstone and future Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg was part of it.  They also got good NHL players in Mike Ricci and Steve Duchene and that number 1 pick in 93.

Lindros had a fantastic rookie season scoring 41 goals and 34 assists on a very mediocre Flyers team in only 61 games played. This was a sign of things to come as Lindros as talented as he was, always had trouble staying healthy.  In 93-94 Lindros improved to 44 goals 53 assists for 97 points in only 65 games played. Lindros was dominant in these early years and every bit the equal as some of his contemporaries in Cam Neely and Rick Tocchet.  In 1995 the season of the lockout that was only 48 games, Lindros was truly outstanding scoring 29 goals 41 assists

for 70 points in 46 games played.  He won the Hart Trophy for MVP of the NHL this season.  The Flyers improved by finally making the playoffs and getting to 2^nd round.  Lindros chipped in with 15 points in 12 playoff games.  95-96 was Lindros best season for point totals. With the Help of John LeClair and Mikael Renberg the famous Legion of Doom line was formed.  Lindros had 47 goals and 115 points, LeClair had 51 goals and 97 points and Renberg had 23 goals and 43 points in limited action.

The core of this Flyers team also had some excellent all-around players as well. Rod Brind’Amour who throughout his whole career was always an excellent faceoff man and defensive player, added 26 goals and 81 points.  The Flyers kept improving and 96-97 felt like they were ready to take the next step. The Flyers did get to the Stanley Cup Finals this season and Lindros had 32 goals and 79 points in only 52 games. As we can see Lindros basically never played more than 80 games except for one season.  John LeClair had another 50 goal season and Rod Brin’Amour and his gritty performance with 27 goals to add to his stellar all-around game.  Lindros played at his best in the postseason scoring 12 goals and 26 points in 19 games in eventually losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final. He was not afraid to hit anyone and this always contributed to his injuries and eventually shortened his career.  In 97-98 Lindros added 30 goals and 71 points in 63 games.  This season was the beginning of the Flyers not making any deep playoff runs, but Lindros was his ever consistent self.  98-98 was another excellent showing with 40 goals and 93 points in 71 games played.  The next season what basically to me what changed Lindros that affected the rest of his career.  He still had 27 goals and 59 points in 55 games.  The playoffs is what defined Lindros this season. In the 2^nd game of the playoffs, Lindros was skating over the middle and did not see Scott Stevens who lined him up for basically a knockout pitch.  Lindros did suffer one of his many concussions in this game.  After this monster hit and a contract dispute, Lindros missed the whole season of 2000-2001. The Stevens hit in the playoffs was the last play Lindros had in a Flyer uniform, which in my opinion is sad.

After healing from the concussion, Lindros was signed as a free agent by the New York Rangers for the 2001-2001 season.  He performed quite admirably by scoring 37 goals and 73 points.  He also still had 138 penalty minutes, so even though he came off of a potentially career ending injury, Lindros was still not afraid to hit and play physical. He should be commended for that.  Unfortunately the Rangers missed the playoffs that season and in his 2 others with the Rangers. In 02-03 Lindros slowed down to 19 goals and 53 points in a career high 81 games.  This was his last full season.  He would play a few more uneventful seasons with scoring an average of about 10 goals and 30 points with the Maple Leafs in 05-06 and Dallas Stars in 06-07. 

Now in my humble opinion Lindros by scoring 372 goals and 493 assists for 865 points in only 760 games, should make him a Hall of Famer.  He basically scored a goal ever other game and which would be close to 40 goals per season.  Now Cam Neely who is a contemporary of Lindros is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Neely had 395 goals 299 assists and 694 points in 726 games. Neely did score more than 50 goals in a season 3 times which more than Lindros, but Lindros was a much better play maker.  I do not think Neely should not be in the HOF, but Lindros should be there too.  Another comparable to me is Steve Shutt who played with a ton of great payers with the Montreal Canadiens had 424 goals 393 assists for 817 points.  Yes Shutt was an excellent scorer but he played with 3 of the best defenseman of all time in Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, and Guy Lapointe.  He also had the pleasure of playing with the flower, Guy LaFleur.  He won Stanley Cups because of this and both Neely and Lindros did not have the great fortune to do so. They should not be penalized for this.

Thank you all for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Feel free to make any comments or suggestions for future blogs. I am open to anything that is football, hockey or baseball, which are my favorite sports.