Eric Lindros Will Finally Get His Place In The Hockey Hall Of Fame

Jordie6/27/2016 8:54 PM

There is always going to be controversy whenever you bring up the name Eric Lindros. There is always going to be contention over the type of person he was and the type of player he was supposed to be. He was billed to be one of the greats. To be put in the same category as Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux, etc. But after countless head injuries and countless off-ice problems, his career was ended early with plenty of shortcomings and plenty of reasons for doubt. But one thing that you can never doubt about this man is that he was the ultimate game changer. There are very few hockey players in the world who have the rare combination of size and skill that Lindros had. When healthy, he was the most dominant player in the world at his time. Sure, he may not have ever won a Cup and maybe he never learned how to skate across the blueline with his head up. But he had the kind of size and talent that will transcend time. He was the only legitimate superstar the Flyers have had in my lifetime and it’s great to see him finally get the honor that he deserves.

Now when you look at Eric’s career stats, they’re pretty damn impressive but they don’t jump off the table and scream “put me in the hall”. 372 career goals, 493 career assists for 865 career points. Again, those are very good but they’re not great. They’re only great when you take into consideration that he only got 760 games in his career (I still think Scott Stevens and Darius Kasparaitis deserves to be executed). That’s a cool 1.138 points per game played for Big E which is 19th all time in the NHL. The only players that are ahead of him in that category are either already in the Hall of Fame, or they’re currently playing and will be in the Hall after they retire. He’s less than 0.1 points per game away from guys like Guy Lafleur, Joe Sakic, Dale Hawerchuk, Pat Lafontaine, Steve Yzerman, Jaromir Jagr. Considering he played half of those 760 career games with his brains splattering around the inside of his skull like applesauce, I’d say that’s pretty good company to be around. Mix that in with the fact that he was the ’95 Hart trophy winner and a 6 time NHL all star, and you have your case for the Hall of Fame right there.

Obviously there was a whole slew of issues with Lindros off the ice. I’m not even going to go into the problems with his dad vs Bob Clarke because Mr. Lindros was a world renowned piece of shit. However, I’ll never in a million years understand the people who hold his whole draft debacle against him. It makes zero sense whatsoever. Imagine wanting to have just a small say in where you live your life and the company that you work for. How wild of an idea is that? Imagine if some company wanted to hire you but they were run by a bunch of pricks. And if said company hired you, then you’d have to move to Quebec to be surrounded by a bunch of French Canadian assholes. And at 18-years-old, maybe that’s not what you want to do with your life. But apparently all professional athletes are supposed to be treated as slaves being auctioned off to the highest bidder. Which is bullshit. Lindros didn’t want to play in Quebec and those pieces of shit were going to do everything they possibly could to force him to play there. It was childish and I’m glad they lost their team due to the ownership’s incompetence. But that’s just another way that Eric Lindros was a game changer. He was a revolutionary talent doing revolutionary things in the game of hockey. And that’s what makes him Hall of Fame worthy.

I still wish that there was a role for Eric Lindros with the Philadelphia Flyers right now. I’m sure the window is always open for him to come back to the city but it seems like he’s got a good thing going back home where he can just live his life. But what we saw today is that the Hall of Fame isn’t just about points. It isn’t just about how many Cups you’ve won. Mark Recchi is one of only 13 players who have ever scored more than 1500 points in the NHL. He has won 3 Stanley Cups. There is no doubt in my mind that he’ll be in the Hall of Fame next year. He’s right up there with Lindros as one of the greatest Flyers of all time. But Lindros was a game changer in more ways than just one. The man is a legend and after his 6th year of eligibility, enough is enough. Eric Lindros, 2016 NHL Hall of Fame inductee. It’s a beautiful thing.

P.S. – I wish more than anything in the world that Lindros adopted me this day.