Scott Stevens day is today on FSNY. The player that he will be forever linked to retired this week. Eric Lindros, probably one of the few players that truly combined brute force with great hands, is now going to be judged as far as…is he Hall Of Fame worthy? It is indeed a very good question. The Hockey Hall Of Fame at least to me, gets very fickle when it comes to borderline players. No doubt, Lindros is such a player.
The Big “E”
Why is Lindros even considered borderline? Well the answers are many and obvious. The low number of games played (760). His lack of clutch playoff performances also may weigh in. The fact that he only had one 100 point season. He never scored 50 goals in a season. Even just the fact that he and his agent orchestrated a bidding war between the Flyers and Rangers just because he didn’t want to play for Quebec might come back to haunt him though it probably shouldn’t. Time to break these points down a little more.
Games played may just be an issue. Most players that don’t get into the Hall Of Fame…usually do not get in because of lack of longevity. This happens in every sport….baseball is a little different just because players tend to stay healthier longer. However, football has its fair share of players who didn’t play very long but are most certainly in the Hall….Gale Sayers comes to mind as a glaring example. Two Boston Bruins come to mind when I think of players who had careers cut short and yet they are still in the Hall. Bobby Orr and more recently Cam Neely are both in the Hockey Hall Of Fame. Neely, to me, was rather questionable but injuries did diminish his greatness dramatically.
The scoring issue or was his offensive impact so great that it could be considered Hall worthy. People remember the Legion of Doom line with him, Renberg, and Leclair. Teams would constantly try and stop Lindros a lot like they shadow Jagr today. Yes he only had one 100 point season but there were two lockouts in the time he played. He never had a 50 goal season but those great hands were meant more for passing. Lindros could thread a needle with the best of them…believe me as a Devils fan, I saw it enough. I know quite a few players that didn’t have 100 point seasons and yet they are still considered Hall worthy.
Some will even argue that his “whining” will keep him from getting into hockey’s most sacred shrine. Many remember the whole bidding war between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers where the Flyers eventually won. Philly’s price to pay was steep….15 million dollars, five players, the rights to Peter Forsberg, and two first round draft picks. People forget that it was his mother who didn’t want him to sign the contract…weird isn’t it? Later on in his career, he had the legendary spat with GM Bobby Clarke who thought his injuries and developing concussion problem wasn’t that bad. It is true the Flyers medical staff did him no real favors. Hell he may have died because of them. That being said I can think of quite a few players who whined their way out of one town just because they didn’t want to play there and are in the Hall. Hey, even John Elway cried his way out of the Baltimore Colts purgatory to end up in Denver and I think he turned out just fine.
I know there are many arguments and when Lindros comes up for selection…these and more will be rehashed again and again. Yes there are players like Dino Ciccarelli and Glenn Anderson who deserve to be in but you know what, Eric Lindros (injuries, whining, or not) deserves to be there too.
