Like him or loathe him, rationalize for or empathize with him, Eric Lindros, the most
misunderstood hockey son currently living in Canada and not playing in
Philadelphia, never put greed ahead of what he though was right for himself and his family.
Lindros was raised with a bunker mentality, a true sense of family bond built
to withstand even that most powerful of atmospheric conditions: money. And Lindros' parents always knew money would be his for
the taking.
But at 28, Lindros seems poised to take control of his own destiny.
It is believed that sometime Thursday afternoon, Eric Lindros called his
father/agent Carl and said he's tired of playing a staredown game with Flyers president
Bob Clarke.
|  | | Lindros won't wear a Flyers uniform again, but he might be in uniform soon. |
Eric directed Carl Lindros to call the St. Louis Blues and
ask them if they still wanted a healthy, slightly less wealthy but always the
wiser "Next One" to come and help their team win a Stanley Cup. As family
attorney Gordon Kirke would say later, Eric's decision to
open up his options to teams other than Toronto had nothing to do with his lack of paychecks, but only with the desire
to win a championship.
"Eric wants to play hockey," Kirke said simply.
As it stands now, Lindros set off a chain of events that before the
Tuesday afternoon trading deadline will probably land him in either St.
Louis, Detroit or Dallas, as the newest member of the Western Conference's
crowded list of marketable playoff horses.
"Don't do this," Bob Clarke said from his nearby vacation-area retreat
Friday night, "you know I'm going to get a hundred calls tonight."
As always, Lindros decided to find a way to get there on his own.
"They're doing it backwards," Clarke said of the Lindros family. "It's
ridiculous that they're picking teams, but that's the way they are. They
should call us, and let us put together a list of teams we could trade him
to. If they feel they're running out of time, and they want Eric to play, do
it the right way."
Instead, it will been done the Lindros way. But not without some large
measure of regret.
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Eric is disappointed that it won't be the Leafs. We're still holding out hope something gets done with Toronto, but he wants to play this season for a team that's going deep into the playoffs. ” |
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— Lindros family attorney Gordon Kirke |
According to Kirke, Eric Lindros' decision was the result of several
conversations the player had in the past week with Pat Quinn, general manager of
the Leafs. Kirke said the last call came Thursday, when Quinn told Lindros that he
wouldn't be able to continue efforts at making a trade.
"Eric is disappointed that it won't be the Leafs," Kirke said. "We're
still holding out hope something gets done with Toronto, but he wants to play
this season for a team that's going deep into the playoffs."
Kirke said "a handful" of teams that previously expressed interest in
Lindros were contacted Thursday. Though he wouldn't name them, it's believed
to be the Blues, Red Wings and Stars – probably in that order.
It was reported in Canada on Friday night that the Washington Capitals are
also heavily in that mix. Adding fuel to that talk was the presence Friday
night of Flyers assistant general manager Paul Holmgren and pro scout Ron
Hextall at MCI Center for a game between the Rangers and Capitals.
Interviewed by a New York reporter there, however, Capitals GM George
McPhee said rumors of his interest in Lindros were "absolutely untrue."
Clarke took flight for the shore from his office in Voorhees, N.J., Friday
afternoon after word of a deal for Lindros tabled with
the Blues began spreading. Before he left, Clarke had already called Blues GM Larry Pleau
with a quick rejection.
"They made an offer that we turned down," Clarke said. "I can't say (who
it was). I can't talk about his players."
But an NHL management source confirmed Friday night that Pierre Turgeon,
the Blues' best scorer, had been offered straight up for Lindros.
Turgeon, 31, has 450 goals in a 14-year career and isn't showing any signs
of slowing down. He leads the Blues with 27 goals and 70 points in 65 games,
and will be an attractive unrestricted free agent come July 1.
Without a guarantee that Turgeon would sign then with the Flyers, they
couldn't be interested in trading Lindros for him. When asked if he'd
entertain other offers for Lindros, however, Clarke said, "Sure. But I don't
know what's going to happen. I don't know what the Lindroses are going to
want to do."
What Clarke knows he can do is control the trigger. No deal can be done
without his ultimate consent. He says vindictiveness on either side can't
play a part in this latest round of pot-luck politics, but as anyone who has
witnessed the drawn-out divorce of Lindros v. Flyers could attest, nastiness
is always a factor.
What Clarke can't do, says he won't do, is allow it to interfere with the
mission he's carried through most of his adult life.
"I have to do what's right for the Philadelphia Flyers," Clarke said.
So he will swallow hard today, stare out at the ocean for a while, then hop in
his BMW, think things over on the 90-minute drive to the First Union Center and see if this Lindros saga might actually end.
Rob Parent covers the NHL for the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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