Great Players: Eric Bryan Lindros

Eric Bryan Lindros (born February 28, 1973 in London, Ontario) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League. He was the first overall pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. During his career, he captured numerous individual awards, and competed internationally for Canada at many tournaments. While in his prime, he was a premier power forward in the NHL, but he suffered from many injury problems. He retired in November of 2007, after playing the 2006-07 season with the Dallas Stars. With his imposing physical strength and playmaking ability, Lindros established himself as the top player on a Flyers team that had perennially been in contention but always fell short. His time in Philadelphia would see him score points at a phenomenal rate (for much of his first 5 seasons in the NHL, Lindros hovered around 4th all-time in points per game) and become one of the most feared players in the NHL, eventually leading the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals in 1997 (which they lost to the Detroit Red Wings); he would also suffer frequent injuries and feud with general manager Bobby Clarke.

Along with John LeClair and Mikael Renberg he played on the dreaded “Legion of Doom” line. He scored over 40 goals in each of his first two seasons and won the Hart Trophy as MVP in the lockout-shortened season of 1995 by scoring 29 goals and 41 assists in 46 games. He led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals in 1997, handily defeating their three opponents along the way. The Flyers were overmatched against the Detroit Red Wings, however, and were swept in the series, with Lindros managing to score his only goal in the dying minutes of Game 4 to cut the score to 2-1. In 1998, Lindros was ranked number 54 on The Hockey News’ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players of all time.