There is no player in the NHL with as much financial interest in his team making the playoffs as Eric Lindros.
The Post has learned that the four-year contract with the Rangers to which Lindros agreed in August – actually a series of four, one-year agreements attached to mutual and statistically-triggered option clauses -includes a total of $1.5 million in bonuses that No. 88 can achieve only if the Blueshirts qualify for the playoffs in each of the next three seasons.
If Lindros, who last night at the Garden faced the Flyers for the first time since coming to New York, plays in 65 games this year and 60 games next year, and registers 30 goals or 55 points in each season, and the Rangers qualify for post-season play each year, No. 88 will receive an additional $500,000 for this season, next season and for 2003-04, each.
Should he and his team achieve that level of success, Lindros will earn $8.6M for this season, $9.2M next season, $9.8M for 2003-04 and $10.25M for 2004-05. Under that scenario, and with an additional $750,000 in bonuses earned for recording a cumulative 40 goals or 80 points, the contract would max out at $38.6M over the four seasons.
Lindros also has bonuses worth $250,000 for winning the Hart ($150,000 for placing second in the voting), $150,000 for winning the Art Ross ($100,000 for finishing as runner-up in the scoring race), and $250,000 for winning the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Under this unique contract, Lindros entered this season with a $4.5M guarantee regardless of whether he suffered a career-ending head injury during his first day of training camp. Essentially, if Lindros avoids a head injury over the course of the schedule’s first 52 games – last night was Game 20 – there is a guarantee of $8.1M for this season.
Lindros was hardly thinking about his contract going into last night’s showdown with his former team, though adding another two points to his current team’s portfolio sure would have been another $tep in the right direction.
Surrounded by a media crowd following the morning skate large enough to connote playoff time, Lindros maintained the low-profile road he has taken all season, refusing to even nibble at leading questions, no matter how often and in what manner they were posed.
He did, however, reiterate that he never would have returned to the league after his lengthy concussion-induced absence if he had had questions about his health.
“I said it first over the summer and I meant it, I wouldn’t have done this if I hadn’t been assured it was safe for me to do it,” Lindros said. “I wouldn’t have screwed around with something as important as my health.
“I love playing hockey, I’m happy to be back, but living a productive, long life is way more important than playing a few games.”
If Lindros was insisting that this game was no more or less significant than any of the 82 on the schedule, if the Flyers were pretty much mimicking that approach, there was little question that the Rangers went into the match very much wanting to secure a victory for No. 88.
“Eric is a great competitor who demands a lot not only from himself but from everybody else,” Mike Richter, who went into the match 6-0-1 in his last seven starts, said. “He has a lot of pride, and so do we.
“In addition to everything else, we want to win it for him.”
