BACK IN THE DAY
Before Connor McDavid or Sidney Crosby, there was Eric Lindros. And, in some ways, his NHL debut was even more hyped than both of those players combined.
After being selected first overall in the 1991 draft, Lindros refused to sign with the Quebec Nordiques, competed in the Olympics and was the only non-NHLer at the Canada Cup.
“We had a good team,” Lindros said of the Olympics, where he had 11 points in eight games and won a silver medal. “We lost to the Russians in the gold medal game. We had a 5-on-3, but we didn’t score. We really could have won this game.”
A year later, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, where his first game against the stateside rival Pittsburgh Penguins was a long time coming.
“I was wired,” Lindros said of his NHL debut. “I was wired the night before. I actually went to the rink — and it was the Igloo back in the day — to go check my sticks. I never did that again in my career but I did it that night. I felt for some reason that it was necessary to go look at three pieces of wood that hadn’t changed since the last time I had touched them. I didn’t get much sleep.
“What a thrill, opening night against (Mario) Lemieux and (Jaromir) Jagr and Ron Francis, the whole group. It was a powerhouse team.”
Down 3-1 in the third period, Lindros kick-started the comeback by stealing the puck from Jagr and scoring what he described as an “ugly” goal past Tom Barrasso.
“I will later describe it to my kids as one of the best goals that I ever scored,” he joked.
It was the start of something special, as the 6-foot-4 and 230-pound Lindros sent shockwaves through the league with a blend of skill and size that had never been seen in the NHL. As Bobby Clarke once said, he was “the first of the huge, big men with small-man’s skill.”
Lindros finished the year with 75 points. Unfortunately for him, 1992-93 was the same year that Teemu Selanne broke into the league, winning the Calder Trophy with 76 goals and 132 points.
“We did all right,” Lindros said of his rookie season. “I had 41 goals in 61 games. I was on a pace. They were going in. But the Finnish Flash over in Winnipeg was on fire. And Joey Juneau (who finished second among rookies with 102 points) joined the league, too.”