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Sunday, January 14, 2001
Clarke: Why should Lindros get to choose?
Associated Press
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PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers are determined to
have a say where Eric Lindros plays.
Lindros, a restricted free agent who turned down an $8.5 million
qualifying offer from the Flyers last summer, has said he wants to
play only for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The star center might have to wait four years to get his wish.
"Most of us in the league feel the same way: Why the heck
should Eric pick his team?" Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said
Saturday in a radio interview between periods of Philadelphia's 4-1
victory at Florida.
"When he's 31 and an unrestricted free agent, he can do that --
if that team wants him. To say at 27 years old, 'I'm only going to
play in Toronto,' he might be sitting ... for four years."
On Thursday, Flyers chairman Ed Snider told Clarke to stop
negotiating with Toronto, saying the Maple Leafs "offered us
absolutely nothing for Eric."
Snider said another team had made an offer for Lindros far
better than Toronto's. Clarke later denied reports that the
Islanders were the unidentified team and Lindros refused to accept
the trade.
"If anyone made us an offer that is acceptable, we'd take the
offer and make the deal, but that hasn't happened," Clarke said in
Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer. "Nobody has said that. Nobody has
said to us, we'll give you this if you accept that. Nobody."
Lindros was cleared to resume playing in November, nearly six
months after a check by New Jersey's Scott Stevens left him with
his sixth concussion in just over two years. He had just returned
after a 2{-month absence because of postconcussion syndrome.
But Lindros has made it clear he will not return to the Flyers
because of a contentious relationship with Clarke. It reached a
point last season where the two men didn't speak for months.
The boiling point came after Lindros criticized the team's
medical staff for failing to diagnose his second concussion of the
season on March 4.
Clarke then stripped Lindros of his captaincy, and the star was
ostracized from the team until he returned for Games 6 and 7 of the
Eastern Conference finals against New Jersey.
Neither Lindros nor his father/agent Carl Lindros could be
reached for comment.
Lindros came to Philadelphia in 1992 following a trade with
Quebec that included six players, two first-round draft choices and
$15 million.
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ALSO SEE
Islanders reportedly made acceptable offer for Lindros
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