Playoffs 2000:Lindros just trying to fit in again with Flyers

Lindros just trying to fit in again with Flyers
By Ira Podell
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- Eric Lindros' career with the Philadelphia Flyers probably will end with him as a distraction rather than a champion.

And now, amid all the injuries and clashes with management, it appears these might be Lindros' final days with the Flyers.

He rejoined the Flyers on Tuesday for the first time since his feud with general manager Bob Clarke tore a hole in his relationship with the team.

Still unable to practice because of a concussion, Lindros rode the exercise bike while his teammates prepared for Thursday's first-round playoff game with Buffalo. He will not play in the opening series.

"I don't think there needs to be any more said," said Lindros, speaking softly and seeming more like an outsider than the franchise player who was the team's focal point for eight years. "I'm just focusing on getting back and getting in shape."

Lindros said he spoke by phone with almost all of the team last week and also talked briefly with team chairman Ed Snider. Asked if he had talked with Clarke, Lindros said simply, "No."

Lindros was a walking textbook of medical problems this season. He missed two games with a viral infection, two with a bruised hand, four with his first concussion, four with back spasms and the final 14 with his latest concussion.

Still, with Lindros ailing, the Flyers rallied from a 15-point deficit in the last two months to capture the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

For the second straight year, Lindros will not be on the ice when the Flyers open the playoffs. Last year, a collapsed lung kept him out.

On March 4, the 27-year-old center took a hit from Boston's Hal Gill, the fourth concussion of his career. The scenario was all too familiar. Lindros' brother, Brett, had to leave the NHL because of concussions.

Eric Lindros has written guidelines for young players on detecting and treating head injuries. Yet he continued to play.

He had hoped trainer John Worley would recognize that he had another concussion and pull him from the lineup. He didn't and Lindros played four more games.

On March 13, Lindros was unable to play at Phoenix and a tense situation worsened.

Team doctors diagnosed a Grade I concussion, but Dr. James Kelly, a Chicago neurologist, said Lindros had a more serious Grade II concussion. Lindros criticized Worley and team doctors.

"I think that it's a difficult situation because everyone has an opinion," goalie John Vanbiesbrouck said. "The one that's important is the attitude that you take _ to come to play and want to win."

Clarke stripped Lindros of the captaincy and handed it to Eric Desjardins.

"It's fair to say when a guy like Lindros comes out and criticizes the doctors and trainers, he's thinking of himself and not the team," Clarke said.

Said Lindros: "I put a lot of effort into supporting teammates in decisions of management. It was a role I felt I was honored to have and wished to continue."

Teammates endorsed the change, leading to questions on how Lindros would be received should he return.

"I think that the team's made a commitment to us," Vanbiesbrouck said. "Bob Clarke has certainly made it clear to us that he's thinking about today and how we win today."

Lindros has won the team's MVP award -- named for Clarke -- four times. Those awards seem long forgotten. Now many want Lindros to apologize.

"I think it's the entire organization's contention," Snider said. "I think it's me, Bob, the players, the doctors."

Lindros is in the final year of a one-year, $8.5 million contract and can become a restricted free agent. It has become increasingly unlikely he will return to the Flyers next season.

The Flyers must make him a qualifying offer to keep matching and compensation rights. Clarke said the offer will be made.

"He is a part of our team, a big part of our team," rookie goalie Brian Boucher said. "Right now, we have to focus as a team without Eric. If we look up and see his jersey hanging there, and he's not playing, we think `Well, we're missing 88. That can almost be an excuse out and we don't want that."

Lindros was 19 years old when the Flyers traded six players, two first-round draft choices and $15 million to the Quebec Nordiques to acquire him.

One problem. After owner Marcel Aubut traded Lindros to the New York Rangers, the Flyers contended they already had a deal with Aubut. An arbitrator ruled in favor of Philadelphia.

Since then, the Nordiques, who became the Colorado Avalanche, and the Rangers have won the Stanley Cup. The Flyers have not. And many say Lindros is the reason why -- despite six All-Star selections and an MVP award in 1995.

"I think a lot of people had expectations on him bringing the Cup to Philadelphia," said John LeClair, a teammate since 1995. "If you look at Eric's career here, he had a great career."

The Flyers, who were Stanley Cup champions in 1974 and 1975, missed the playoffs for three straight years before Lindros arrived.

The thought was, with Lindros, the Stanley Cup would return. The closest the Flyers came was the finals in 1997 when they were swept by Detroit.

"It's an unfair statement," teammate Rick Tocchet said. "No one player wins the Stanley Cup."