The Hockey Hall of Fame may be snubbing Eric Lindros, but the Philadelphia Flyers have welcomed #88 back into the fold where he has entered the team’s Hall of Fame. Lindros is not alone in this year’s class as his long time line mate in Philadelphia, John LeClair, joined him.
After refusing to suit for the Quebec Nordiques, who drafted him first overall in 1991, Quebec engineered a blockbuster trade the year after that sent the former Oshawa General to the Philadelphia Flyers. Lindros with his large size and physical style, would emerge as the NHL’s top power forward. In the strike shortened 1994-95 season, Lindros would win the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s best player, a trophy he was expected to win many more times.
That didn’t happen, but in the 486 Games he played in Philadelphia he scored 659 Points giving him a 1.36 Points per Game Average. Philadelphia went to 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, and though the Flyers did not win the Cup, Lindros emerged as the leading scorer in the Playoffs.
Lindros’ style of play netted him a lot of injuries and the way they were handled by the Flyers would eventually lead to an acrimonious departure. Bobby Clarke, the Flyers General Manager openly questioned the toughness of his star player and a battle between the two escalated in the media. Lindros’ suffered through concussions, an issue we are far more educated about these days and after his disillusion with the Flyers’ medical team and management he sat out the 2000-01 season, before he was finally traded to the New York Rangers.
Lindros’ may have left the Flyers on bad terms, but as time often does, it heals wounds, and this was the team that he had his greatest impact in the National Hockey League, and he belongs in this Hall of Fame.
John LeClair was already proving himself to be a bona fide NHL star before he arrived in Philadelphia. LeClair was a member of the 1993 Stanley Cup Championship team in Montreal where the netted two of the overtime goals in the Finals. As proficient as he was becoming in Montreal, he would be part of a blockbuster trade of his own and join Philadelphia early in the 1994/95 season where he would enjoy his greatest stretch statistically.
Now on a line with Eric Lindros (a line that also included Mikael Renberg and was called the “Legion of Doom”) LeClair would earn his first First Team All Star selection in the strike shortened 1994-95 season and over the next four seasons would make the Post Season All Star team again with another First Team and three Second Teams nods. He would also make history as the first American born player to score 50 Goals in a season three consecutive times.
Overall as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, John LeClair would have 643 Points in 649 Games and a Plus/Minus of 197.
We would like to congratulate both Eric Lindros and John LeClair for entering what we feel is a prestigious franchise Hall of Fame.
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