A Moment for #88

[Tickenest]

Eric Lindros to Announce Retirement Thursday

And so ends one of the most frustrating careers in NHL history. As a Philly fan, I was excited when they beat out the Rangers in the arbitration hearing and landed his rights. I mean, my God, we'd finally landed the guy who's going to lead us to NHL dominance, and FINALLY I'd see a Philly champion in my sentient lifetime (since I obviously don't remember the 1983 NBA title for the Sixers.) Once the team got the Legion of Doom going, it should have been all over from there.

But no.

He just couldn't stay healthy, and he just couldn't lead the team to playoff glory. One appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals (swept by Detroit in 1997), six All-Star games, a Hart Trophy. Not a bad career. But it never lived up to the hype, and we in Philly eventually ran him out of town the way we've done in the past, and the wait for a championship continues+.

+Not counting two Calder Cups by the Phantoms, several lacrosse championships by the Wings, a couple of soccer titles for the Kixx, and the near-Triple Crown by Smarty Jones.

[Hossmann]

Sad to hear that... such greatness gone to waste.

On another unrelated note, I was at the game where Kasparaitis just leveled Lindros to give him the first of many concussions. Who knew that that hit would drastically alter his career.

As for a championship, Filthadelphia doesn't deserve one. They booed Santa, for crying out loud!

[kupuck19]

Sad to hear, shows how special being apart of a Stanley Cup Champion winning team is. You could be a member of the team who never touches the ice in a game, but still get your name on the cup. It's sad to hear hockey's best like Lindros battling so long for that dream and never reach it. You hear it all the time from Cup Champs in the past, its the most amazing feeling as a hockey player to win a cup and that you wish every player can have that feeling, but in reality it just does not work out that way. Although I hate the Avalanche, and being a Bruins fan, it was a very special feeling watching Bourque hoist up the cup, although it was not in a black and gold jersey. #88 had an amazing career, and was a deserving player but it just never came to him.

-Vinnie

[Flames4LifeFLA]

Perhaps it's really a blessing in disguise for a guy who can now intently focus his efforts involving the NHLPA.

[IAmFleury'sHipCheck]

It's crazy to think that Lindros was almost a part of the Avalanche. That is, he was originally drafted to the Quebec Nordiques in 90-91 (I'm pretty sure that was the year) just as Quebec had started making that franchise pretty tough with Sakic and then Sundin would be drafted a little later. Of course, several years later they would move down to Colorado. But from what I remember, Lindros didn't want to play for Quebec and got dealt to Phili almost immediately after he was drafted.

Anyone have a better recollection of how this went down?

[segathon]

According to wikipedia.

June 30, 1992- Traded by the Quebec Nordiques to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Philadelphia's 1993 1st round draft choice, Philadelphia's 1994 1st round draft choice and $15,000,000.

[mack]

and he did the same thing in Junior [wouldn't report to S.S. Marie] and WE went on to appear in 3 straight Memorial Cups winning it my first year of Junior up there.

Thank Eric for the ring.

Lesson for big kids: Learn to skate with your head up. Eventually everyone will be strong and big.

[IAmFleury'sHipCheck]

According to wikipedia.

June 30, 1992- Traded by the Quebec Nordiques to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Philadelphia's 1993 1st round draft choice, Philadelphia's 1994 1st round draft choice and $15,000,000.

1993 pick (Thibault) and 1994 pick (Baumgartner)

Holy Jesus, I didn't realize Quebec got all that in exchange for Lindros.

[Xstioph]

More from wiki...

Lindros was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. Lindros had signaled in advance that he would never play for the Nordiques, citing distance, lack of marketing potential, and having to speak French. He went as far as to refuse to wear the team's jersey on draft day; the team selected him anyway. Some suspect that the team knew that they could command a high price in trade. The Nordiques president publicly announced that they would make Lindros the centerpiece of their franchise turnaround, and refused to trade Lindros, saying that he would not have a career in the NHL as long as he held out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lindros

[halifax]

and he did the same thing in Junior [wouldn't report to S.S. Marie] and WE went on to appear in 3 straight Memorial Cups winning it my first year of Junior up there.

Thank Eric for the ring.

Lesson for big kids: Learn to skate with your head up. Eventually everyone will be strong and big.

nice story mack!

[angryjay93]

Dont forget, Thibault turned into Roy and Keane.

[kupuck19]

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?articleid=34254...mp;service=page

[IAmFleury'sHipCheck]

Dont forget, Thibault turned into Roy and Keane.

Man, that is crazy. So what I've learned from reading through this thread is that Quebec/Colorado's All-Star team was basically built from one guy who never even played for their team. In my opinion, it really is too bad that Quebec was never able to gel this team together for a couple more years and take the Cup as the Nordiques.

[FlyersHockey1967]

He definitely had the potential. But it just was never meant to be.

As for a championship, Filthadelphia doesn't deserve one. They booed Santa, for crying out loud!

Okay, I'm getting fed up with people who keep bringing that up. Seriously, not every Philadelphia guy is necessarily an Eagles fan. Second of all, this is hockey. Let's keep the football talk out of the hockey talk. I hear enough of it already on TV and in magazines. Thirdly, most of the people who went to that game probably aren't even alive now. Or would you rather talk about Nashville and Mike Modano? At least it's hockey related.

Filth? How about Buffalo? Have you been to Detroit lately?

And if you ask me, Philadelphia deserves a championship just as much as any other city. We're a tough place to play in, but we're all diehard fans. You won't find too many places that will fill up with more than 16,000 people during a team's worst season. You want to talk about cities that shouldn't win, look at Phoenix or Florida. Unlike those towns, we can actually support a hockey team.

Thanks for taking a thread about a great player (in his early years) retiring and turning it into an insult hurled at my hometown. Anything else you'd like to say?

[clockwise]

Sad to hear that... such greatness gone to waste.

On another unrelated note, I was at the game where Kasparaitis just leveled Lindros to give him the first of many concussions. Who knew that that hit would drastically alter his career.

As for a championship, Filthadelphia doesn't deserve one. They booed Santa, for crying out loud!

A career in balloon puppetry and sleeping on foldout futons can be hard on a man..Still, it doesn't give you a free pass to sling barbs at my stomping grounds..my home.

Furthermore you formulate an opinion about the cities fandom purely based on folklore. Any football historian worth his salt knows that it was in the midst of an abysmal season, one that could of resulted in the Iggles winning the O.J. sweepstakes had we lost that game...Which we were..Until we somehow found a way to win.

Anyone else who shares the sentiments of Hossmann is welcome to visit the great city of Philadelphia and receive a complimentary 6 button, dual axis suppository, curtsy of yours truly.

[replica]

I Was always a leafs fan for as long as I could remember, but Eric Lindros was my favourite hockey player ever during the 90s...I loved seeing him level guys left right and center...and have the ability to be one of the elite players in the NHL.

that's why i was so excited to see him go to Toronto...but only to watch him get injured yet again, after showing the start of a promising season.

People give him a bad wrap for his attitude off the ice..like when he spit at a womon during his junior years...Or refusing to play in Quebec, but for a kid growing up in the 90s, i saw him as someone who fought for where he wanted to play.

that and he made Colorado the team that it was.