Monday's announcement that Eric Lindros would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame came as a bit of a surprise for Flyers fans, while spurring debate for the hockey community at large. Some may argue that a player of Lindros' caliber does not belong in the Hall just yet, while others may suggest that his induction is long overdue.
There's little doubt that when one thinks of Lindros' 13-season NHL career, memories of him in the Flyers uniform are what come to mind. Whether or not it was the prolific offense alongside John LeClair and Mikael Renberg on the Legion of Doom line, or the physical punishment he inflicted upon opponents on a nightly basis, his Flyers tenure is best remembered. For a while in the mid-1990s, it was Eric Lindros' world — we just happened to be living in it.
Flyers fans can debate Lindros' Hall of Fame qualifications until the cows come home, but the end result is still a pleasant surprise. But because Lindros is a new member of the Hall, should the Flyers provide him with the ultimate honor of retiring his famed No. 88?
It's no secret that the Flyers typically hold off on retiring a number until after a player is enshrined into the Hall of Fame — save for Barry Ashbee's No. 4, the first number retired by the club in 1977. After all, it took the organization 20 years to retire Mark Howe's No. 2, and that was a direct result of his long-overdue induction into the Hall in 2012.
Sixteen years after playing his last game as a Flyer, Lindros is still among all-time franchise leaders. His 290 goals are eight-most in franchise history, his 369 assists are tied with Rick MacLeish for fifth-most and his 659 points are fifth-most and his 1.36 points per game are the most by a large margin. Astoundingly, he played just 486 games as a Flyer — superseded by the likes of Brad Marsh, Murray Craven, Kjell Samuelsson, Scott Hartnell and more.
The Flyers' decision to trade for Lindros in the summer of 1992 not only brought a generational talent to Philadelphia, it signaled to the rest of the NHL that they were ready to contend again. They had previously missed the playoffs for three-consecutive seasons, and were at the lowest point in franchise history. Their runs to the Stanley Cup Final in 1987 and 1985 were becoming distant memories, and it was decided that the Flyers needed to revert to dominance. Lindros had undertaken that mission for the Flyers, steamrolling his way through any competition that got in his way and helping lead the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final in 1997.
At some point, though, Lindros' destructive style of play was going to catch up to him. In an era where not much was known about concussions and the head traumas that hockey could cause, Lindros was diagnosed with six as a Flyer. Injuries led to a growing rift between Lindros, his parents (Carl and Bonnie) and then-GM Bob Clarke, which was further exacerbated in April 1999 when the team, unaware of a collapsed lung that he had suffered, attempted to put him on an airplane from Nashville to Philadelphia.
As the feud between Clarke and the Lindros family began to play out in public, Flyers fans were left to feel like children of a nasty divorce. One franchise icon fighting with another franchise icon in a all-to-public display that made Game of Thrones look like a game of two-hand touch. After infamously sustaining his sixth concussion at the hands of Scott Stevens in Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Final, Lindros found himself as a restricted free agent in the 2000 offseason. He sat out the 2000-01 campaign with no contract — despite being cleared to play in December — while demanding the Flyers move his rights to Toronto, and in August 2001, his Flyers career came to an end.
Just like that, Flyers fans were left to watch as the man they enjoyed watching for eight seasons was sent to a bitter division archrival. The player who received the loudest of cheers at CoreStates (later First Union) Center would be receiving the loudest of boos.
Lindros would enjoy three seasons as a Ranger, and signed a one-year contract with Toronto after the 2004-05 lockout. After his stint as a Maple Leaf, he signed with Dallas for a cup of coffee, scoring five goals and 26 points in 49 games, and retired shortly thereafter.
The relationship between Lindros and the organization remained sour, even several years after the trade that sent him to the Big Apple. When the Flyers played their last Spectrum game in the 2008-09 season, they held a ceremony honoring captains of the team's past — which Lindros notably no-showed (though he did establish that it was to attend the funeral of a family friend).
In the 2011-12 campaign, as the Flyers were gearing up to host the 2012 NHL Winter Classic, it was announced that Lindros would be returning for the Alumni Game. He made his return at Citizens Bank Park to a standing ovation, and assisted on LeClair's game-opening goal — just like old times. He and Clarke were able to play alongside each other, and just like that, their feud was all water under the bridge.
Lindros was also honored by the organization in 2014, when he was inducted alongside LeClair into the Flyers Hall of Fame. For one night, fans were able to forget the bitterness that ensued between the Flyers and the Lindros family, and remember him for the dominant force he was on the ice.
Throughout his NHL career (especially as a Flyer), Eric Lindros was renowned as one of the game's fiercest and most physically-domineering competitors. The Hockey Hall of Fame's selection committee (which happens to include Clarke) has recognized this, and awarded him the highest honor they could award him.
It's time for the Flyers to follow suit.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61.
