Fire On Ice? Blah. Eric Lindros was a disappointment.

ERIC LINDROS

He was self proclaimed as "Fire on Ice" and most hockey fans believed it.  Now many years later, if he can do so without getting a concussion, it is expected that Eric Lindros will announce his retirement this week or possibly today.  As a result,  discussions have increased in regards to Eric's possible inclusion or exclusion to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"Does Eric Lindros have the right stuff to make it into the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Bob Clarke believes he does.

The Philadelphia Flyers senior vice-president put his support behind Lindros during an NHl on TSN panel discussion Wednesday on SportsCentre.

"I believe he should be in," said Clarke. "This was the first big, powerful, dominant forward with the skill, not (Wayne) Gretzky or (Mario) Lemieux, but close."

The comments come as a surprise due to the nature of the relationship between Clarke and Lindros over the years."

Here is a recount of Lindros and Clarke and their shaky past: See Wikipedia, Eric Lindros, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lindros

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Lindros' relationship with Flyers general manager Bobby Clarke soon deteriorated. He and Clarke feuded in the media, with Clarke questioning his toughness; Lindros spent many games on the injured reserve and suffered a series of concussions, the first in 1998 from a hit delivered by Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis that sidelined him for 18 games.[3][4] During an April 1, 1999 game against the Nashville Predators, Lindros suffered what was diagnosed as a rib injury. Later that night, the teammate he was sharing a hotel room with, Keith Jones, discovered Lindros lying in a tub, pale and cold. In a call to the Flyers, the trainer was told to put Lindros on a plane that was returning to Philadelphia with injured team mate Mark Recchi. But Jones insisted that Lindros be taken to a nearby hospital and it was discovered Lindros had a collapsed lung caused by internal bleeding of his chest wall. It was estimated he'd bled out more than half his body's total blood volume. Lindros's father wrote the Flyers a letter in which he stated that if the trainer had followed team orders, Eric would be dead (a statement supported by the doctors who treated him in Nashville).

The following season, he was stripped of his captaincy after criticizing team doctors. Once again plagued by concussions, Lindros returned in the Eastern Conference Finals, in which he played the final two games of the series, the latter of which Lindros suffered yet another concussion after a hit by New Jersey Devils defenceman Scott Stevens. The Flyers lost the final game and the series, and Lindros became a restricted free agent during the off-season.

He refused to accept the Flyers qualifying offer, who still owned his rights. After Lindros was cleared to play in December, the Flyers refused to deal his rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs, as he preferred, and Lindros sat out the rest of 2000-01 NHL season. During that season, Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said he didn't care about Lindros and that he "didn't give a shit if he ever played another NHL game." Clarke eventually traded Lindros to the New York Rangers on August 20, 2001 for Jan Hlavac, Kim Johnsson, Pavel Brendl, and a 2003 3rd-round draft choice (Stefan Ruzicka).

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Anyway,,, my thought would be yes this is a tough call whether or not he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It could be argued that he should be inducted simply because of his dominance on the ice when he was playing ignoring all the other crap. (He snubbed the Quebec Nordiques and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, demanded a trade out of Philly, he was a poor captain, reported barroom elbows, overbearing parents constantly in his business, lalalal, etc.)

My thoughts however would mirror those of Milbury.  "Statistics are great but he wasn't a good teammate, he wasn't a good captain, he did not promote the game of hockey the way it should be promoted," said Milbury. 

"Lindros was drafted first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in 1991 but made it clear he would not play for them. He refused to put on the Nordiques' jersey when he joined the club's management on the podium at the draft."

I feel ripped off when it comes to Lindros. Eric Lindros never lived up to the hype. He was the first 'super star' that I followed as youngster, collecting his hockey cards and obtaining autographs after a Oshawa Generals game, following him in the newspapers as an excited 12 year old hockey fan who didn't understand how anyone would refuse to play hockey after being drafted or how parents could interfere with the career of what was destined to be one of the greatest players of all time. 

What a disappointment.

However, if Cam Neely and Clarke Gillies are in and Glenn Anderson is not, it is widely considered up in the air depending on who you talk to as to whether or not Lindros qualifies. Per prochoice.about.com "There is no set criteria for entry into the Hockey Hall of Fame. It goes without saying that the process is driven by subjectivity, politics and personal agendas. And its goal is to identify individual greatness in the ultimate team game. Good luck. In the end, it's not worth worrying over who's in and who's out.

Hockey Hall of Fame selections are controversial not because people really care or really know what they're talking about, but because it's the perfect opportunity for bloggers and media pundits to puff up their vanity arguments: you can make yourself sound like an erudite hockey guy, and no one can prove you're wrong."

Regardless of his HOF status now or down the road, Eric Lindros could have been and should have been a lot more for hockey then what turned out.  I hope if he could do it all over again he would do a lot of things differently.

This is something I found archived online and it was an interesting read.  For a up close and personal look at the early Eric Lindros: This is Eric Lindros autobiograhy "Fire on ice." Eric Wrote this book in '91 together with CO-writer Randy Starkman. In 1992 there was a second edition with 3 extra chapters and more photos.

The clock is running down...barely time enough for one final rush against the league powerhouse.
They're decked out in black uniforms and we're wearing white. The contrast strikes me: the Good and the Evil. We're from Heaven, they're from Down Below. So far, it looks like the Evil is ruling the day - but that's about to change.
We're racing in on a two-on-two. My winger goes wide. I fake going wide and cut inside, splitting the defense. I make a dash towards the net; the defensemen hack away at me on both sides, desperate to slow me down. I shoot low for the corner on the left side. The goalie knows exactly where it's going and he lunges awkwardly for it - but too late.
The red light flashes. I raise my arms in celebration. And the crowd goes wild.