PHILADELPHIA – Sixteen months after his divorce from this town finally went through, Eric Lindros came back to town with 14 points in 27 games.
The boos for him on his third visit back seemed perfunctory. The new girl on his arm, at 12-12-4-1, registers only a “five.” Meanwhile, the guys the Flyers married had won two of their last 12 games.
The venom seemed gone between two long-time rivals with their own anxieties, any motives toward each other following their August 2001 trade of convenience seeming almost as pure as the 10 inches of driven snow outside.
Then, late in the second period, Lindros took a drop pass from Bobby Holik and fired the devastating half-slapper the Flyers wanted on their side for 15 years past Roman Cechmanek’s glove to tie the game.
Suddenly, the boos were from Philly’s heart, just like Lindros’ stick thrust in the air a full decade after the presumed player of this generation was brought here for a happily ever after that never happened.
“A lot of Christmas cheer out there,” Lindros said, smiling, after sidestepping the question of the personal meaning of the goal while his teammates mostly danced about the question of the ridiculous penalty-shot call enabling the Flyers’ Michal Handzus to win it, 3-2, in overtime.
Point on the road. Bigger point in the coach’s head if he doesn’t see Lindros, moved to the left wing with Mark Messier at game’s start by last night’s return of Holik, then to the right side with Holik and Matthew Barnaby from the mid-point on, as the more promising complement to Holik.
Lindros shoots right. On the wing, he is in less jeopardy from open-ice hits along the boards that at center, where he has always been average both as a playmaker and defender.
“[Lindros and Holik] looked very comfortable together,” said Trottier. “How long I stick to it, I don’t know. We have a lot of options.”
In 1992, the Flyers thought their best option was to do whatever it took to land the most coveted prospect since Mario Lemieux. They traded a draftee named Peter Forsberg among six players, two No. 1 draft choices, and $15 million to Quebec in the biggest hockey trade ever, then successfully fought the Rangers and the double-dealing Nordiques in arbitration.
By 1995, the Flyers were a playoff team again and by 1997 a Cup finalist, but multiple concussions and other injuries left them too many springs either minus Lindros or playing with nothing but a shell of him. When Lindros criticized team medical personnel after failing to report more post-concussion symptoms and took away his captaincy during recovery, his teammates seemed relieved to go on a semifinals run without him.
The Rangers, the only team that chose to afford the uncertainty over his health, negotiated with little to trade, only with money to burn and the knowledge the Flyers were boxed.
Nine years later, a kid worth a ransom before he played an NHL game, was obtained for three young players (Jan Hlavac, Kim Johnsson and Pavel Brendl) a franchise starving for youth could easily afford to give up.
Hlavac has been subsequently moved for a fourth-liner, Donald Brashear. Brendl, once a fourth overall pick, has two goals. Johnsson gave the Flyers a needed wheel, then ran out of gas in the second half, of the season, like the team, which lost in the first round.
Another concussion, albeit a mild one, slowed Lindros’ spectacular rebirth in New York and combined with another orthopedic setback, help ruined the second half of a fifth consecutive Ranger non-playoff season.
He started year two terribly, but after a benching and regular shifts with sluggos, Lindros has been coming on, last night elevating himself one more step to despicability, always a good sign here.
