SO ERIC LINDROS has a "previous commitment" and can't make an appearance at the Wachovia Spectrum with the 14 other former Flyers captains for the Sept. 27 preseason game with Carolina. I can't say I'm surprised, but I can say I'm disappointed.

The Flyers, as part of the Spectrum sendoff season prior to the building being demolished to make way for commercial development, invited their past captains. I don't know anyone who expected Lindros to accept, given the way his time with the Flyers ended in a bitter dispute with Bob Clarke.

To be fair, Lindros had a falling-out with the entire organization. Clarke was the general manager and the lead team-guy in the fight. There's no use getting into all that again, but Lindros has always said the fans were the most important part of the game.

He always said he appreciated the support and the way Philadelphia hockey fans treated him.

And no matter how you might feel about what happened between Lindros and the Flyers, "88" was and always will be one of the best players to ever skate in the Spectrum. He came in as a much-anticipated teenage savior for a team that had forgotten how to win. And he came in as the major draw for an arena that was about to be built and needed a marquee player to market.

He sold seats, provided years of highlights, and he got close to a Stanley Cup, but always, always, fell just short of the expectations. He had concussion problems and it was not helped by the way he played, like a freight train with talent.

He should have accepted the invitation. It really isn't about him or the organization or any bad feelings. He could have ignored Clarke or risen above the past.

This could have been - no, should have been - a moment for the fans, the people who paid to see him and cheered him on.

So I, for one, am disappointed.

But I am not surprised.

New season

I probably had a couple of weeks before the first "Stick Sense" of the year, but I was bored and the Lindros thing got my fingers moving so now that we're off and running and camp is just 2 weeks away, what the heck.

So where are we? For starters, the Flyers are a million over the cap and still have a few unanswered questions, with the top two being what happens with Derian Hatcher and the new Peter Forsberg - Mats Sundin.

First, Sundin.

He's a talented player. GM Paul Holmgren and team president Peter Luukko would be remiss not to at least look into the possibility of bringing the Super Swede to Philly now that he is done with the Maple Leafs, but please stop.

I like the way the Flyers look through the middle and I wouldn't want to mess with that or see them make trades that force them to find money for him. This is a team that went to the conference final.

Puck-moving defensemen are what it really needs. There are some possibilities, and camp will show what Brian Berard can do and if Ryan Parent can make a big leap, but that's where I would be focused.

As for Hatcher, I'd love to see him back, but I don't like his chances of coming back. He played sore and with fluid on a knee for nearly all of last season.

People complained that he was the wrong guy to sign coming out of the lockout with the new rules that seemed to make big, tough and slower blue-liners dinosaurs. He played up, or down, depending on how you look at it, to those criticisms his first season. There were reasons, nearly two full seasons off the ice between injuries and the lockout, but the two seasons since he has been a big part of the Flyers' defense and a bigger part of their locker room.

There are not a lot of guys like him left in the league and I am pulling for him to come back because I'll miss him, on and off the ice, if he hangs them up. And so will the Flyers.

Finally

Two thumbs up to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the aggressive way it has gone after rebuilding its team. It added another piece of the puzzle last week, getting defenseman Andrej Meszaros out of Ottawa and then signing him to a 6-year deal. Tampa Bay is going to be a team to contend with this season. *

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