The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

A debate amongst hockey fans right now is whether or not Eric Lindros, who officially announced his retirement today, is a worth candidate to be in the Hall of Fame. In all likelihood, he will be inducted, but if it was up to me, well, let's just say he'd be a W.B.M. Won't Be Missed special.

My problem with Lindros is that he always came across as thinking he's bigger than the game itself. It started off when he was a teenager, refusing to don the Quebec Nordiques sweater when they drafted him and he sat out until he was traded to another franchise. Apparently every other player who's been drafted not just in the NHL but NFL, NBA, and MLB was not as special as Eric. It's all karma big guy, and your career ended up with zero, count em', zero Stanley Cups and a boatload of injuries. I personally don't care you won a Hart Trophy in a lockout-shortened season in 1995. You further proved your arrogance by sitting out the 2000-01 season because you didn't get what you wanted and be traded to the Maple Leafs. Hey, if Toronto doesn't have the assets the Flyers want, they have no obligation to get you for lesser value. After all, they only gave up Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, two 1st round draft picks and $15,000,000 cash to acquire you in the first place.

You might recall he played for Team Canada on numerous occasions, but their Canada Cup victory in 1991 and their Olympic gold medal victory in 2002 had little to do with Eric himself. Guys like Wayne Gretzky and Joe Sakic were the leaders of those teams and Lindros was just lucky to come along for the ride.

His press conference today was ridiculous, saying if he had to do it all over again, he'd still refuse to play for Quebec because he claims the ownership didn't want to win. Well, that trade allowed them to get two Stanley Cups just after they moved to Colorado, so perhaps they knew a thing or two about building a team.

I might sound harsh, but it doesn't really matter what I think. His numbers are comparable to Cam Neely, who also had a career shortened by injuries, played a physical style and never won a Cup but still made it to the Hall of Fame. Indeed, Lindros is a household name in the hockey world, and luckily for fans future stars such as Peter Forsberg, Dany Heatley, Alexander Ovechkin and Sydney Crosby didn't follow Eric's lead and instead embraced the opportunity to play in the NHL without taking it for granted, and without holding the fans hostage. Unfortunately for you Eric, you might make it to the Hall, but you'll remembered more for the negatives in your career, rather than for the few years you were one of the very best to play in the NHL.