Start Your Day With Eric Lindros' Hall of Fame Induction Speech
Last night was a truly special moment for Eric Lindros, the Philadelphia Flyers, the game of hockey, and most importantly…. myself. To see the man whom I’ve loved since the day I was born receive hockey’s greatest honor brought a tear to my eye. And if any of you tough guys in the comment section are going to talk shit on Eric after last night, I’ll look up your IP address so I can come kick your ass. But really, I can’t even imagine what last night was like for Big E and his family.
What you heard in that speech is a man who loved only two things in life; hockey and his family. Both were the most important parts of his childhood and you can tell that it doesn’t seem like he really knew much else growing up. The sad thing is that hockey wasn’t always good to him or his family. There are very few figures in hockey history that are more polarizing than Lindros was. Between the draft fiasco, the issues between his parents and Flyers’ management, the concussions, everything. Eric Lindros was one of the most gifted hockey players to ever live but the game just didn’t always love him back and his resume is about half of what it could have been. However, that half resume is still enough to get him into the Hall.
He managed to score 865 points in just 760 NHL games. That’s good enough to put him in the top 20 all time in Points Per Game. He was a Hart Trophy winner, a Lester B. Pearson Award winner, a 7-time all star, an Olympic gold medalist. And maybe most importantly, he inspired a new generation of power forwards. If only anybody ever taught him how to keep his head up, he would have had the chance to be one of the greatest to ever play without the asterisks and controversies attaches to saying that.
Bringing his brother Brett up there was a great touch as well. Eric Lindros has plenty of reasons to be bitter with how his career went. But it was great to see the guy get some much needed closure last night. Now all we need is for Hexy to bully him back to Philly and see if we can get him on the bench in any capacity.
Few Quick Sidenotes:
1) Why does Chris Pronger look like every sociology professor at any Liberal Arts school?
2) Lanny McDonald. Such a beauty. Always has been and always will be.
3) I NEED this sweater. Need it.
