Flyers' Eric Lindros did things his way

AND NOW, the end is near.

And so, Eric Lindros will face the final curtain - the one covering a bust of his head, of all body parts - tonight at center ice as he is inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame with linemate John LeClair.

Before he laughs, shakes hands and offers a few brief words for an adoring and forgiving 19,537 faithful, it would only be fitting if Lindros stepped onto the ice with Frank Sinatra's recording of "My Way" pouring out of the Wells Fargo Center sound system.

Regrets, Lindros had a few. But then again, too few to mention.

He arrived in Philadelphia as a brash 19-year-old in 1992, having just angered an entire nation by refusing to play for Quebec and embroiling the Flyers and Rangers in a trade dispute that required a neutral arbitrator to unravel. Lindros never apologized.

"I'm going to make it my way, and it's not always going to please people," Lindros told the Daily News' Les Bowen in an introductory luncheon in 1992. "That's unfortunate, but the guy who has to live the life is me."

Lindros departed in 2001 via trade to the Rangers, ending a 15-month holdout in which he turned down a 1-year, $8.5 million qualifying offer from the Flyers that 14 years later would still make him the 14th highest-paid player in today's NHL.

All of the controvers-Es along the way - the concussions, coaches, contract disputes, accusations, a collapsed lung, a rumored car accident, the Joey Merlino ticket mixup, even the alleged spitting of beer at KooKoo Bananas bar in Oshawa - did more than muddy his on-ice brilliance. They made a night like tonight seem like a pipe dream.

The words written about Lindros' legacy after the saga ended were damning, the "unredeemed promise of a superstar who never seemed to want the responsibility that came with that title," as Bowen wrote in the Aug. 21, 2001, edition of the Daily News.

There was the question of his initial haul to Quebec: Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, Mike Ricci, Chris Simon, two first-round picks (Jocelyn Thibault and Nolan Baumgartner) and $15 million. Was Lindros worth all the headaches?

The answer, in 2001, was a resounding no. The Flyers got close but never won that Stanley Cup. Lindros won a Hart Trophy but never had a 50-goal season and only once hit 100 points. He was lustily booed every time he stepped on the ice as a Ranger on Jan. 12, 2002, in his first game back in Philadelphia.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure he knew, that he bit off more than he could chew. But through it all, when there was doubt, he ate it up - and spit it out.

Somewhere over the last decade-and-a-half - even before the 2012 Winter Classic when he was serenaded at Citizens Bank Park with a standing ovation - the Flyers and Philadelphia mellowed on Lindros.

"So much of what occurred was so long ago," Lindros said this week. "We're looking at 14 almost 15 years now. It was what it was, and it is what it is. I've been going to the alumni game for a while now and the golf outing in the summers. It's a great group to be around.

"The fans in Philadelphia are extremely passionate, very few like them in the world. They get it, they want their teams to do well, and I'm sure that [tonight] will be an example of that. I'm just proud to be back in that rink."

Time heals all wounds, yes. But a few other things were in play.

Even as the rest of the NHL grew in size, many recognized years later that there has not been a power forward who could fly through center ice and bull-rush the blue line quite like Lindros. Yes, he missed 140 games of a possible 626, but he owned the ice with 659 points in 486 games when he was healthy.

"Those of us that were in the business knew all along what he was doing, how much he changed the game," former Flyers GM Bob Clarke told the Daily News yesterday. "When he was with the Flyers, he was a dominant player in the NHL. He dominated the game. This is certainly deserved."

Clarke feuded with Lindros and his parents/agents, Carl and Bonnie, for years. Flyers president Paul Holmgren, the man credited with mending the Lindros fence before the Winter Classic, often had to be the go-between for meetings between the Flyers and the Lindros family.

Carl and Bonnie Lindros declined comment for this story, saying that they wanted tonight's attention to be on the inductees. They should be proud that both Eric and younger brother Brett helped change the way concussions are viewed in hockey.

You wouldn't hear anyone criticize any professional athlete today as a baby for sitting out with a head injury, though that's what Lindros faced. It's easy to forget that Lindros used to frequent Pennsylvania Hospital to get intravenous fluids to help relieve the migraine-like headaches after a blow to the brain.

"He was a bit of a pioneer in that sense," Clarke said. "So many players had head injuries in the past that weren't documented by doctors. He had multiple concussions diagnosed. Being a superstar, he brought a lot of attention to that, same as when Paul Kariya or Sidney Crosby had the same injuries."

Clarke, 65, will watch tonight's ceremonies from afar at his home in Florida, where he is more or less out of touch with the Flyers, aside from an occasional chat with Hextall. Clarke said there were never "any hard feelings" for Lindros, though he was quoted on the day of the 2001 trade to the Rangers: "I don't care. I really don't. He hurt this organization, I could care less about him."

When did those sour feelings mellow?

"Once Eric made the decision that he wasn't going to sign with the Flyers, he had zero interest in my life," Clarke said yesterday. "There's no animosity there. I just tried to focus on the players that we had, how we could make the team better. We had other players that caused us some grief, but I tried to treat him like anyone else. If our offer wasn't good enough, then fine. He made his own choice."

It's unfathomable to think that was another lifetime ago for Lindros. Now 41, he lives in Toronto, got married a few years ago and focuses on his businesses, which include an online shopping destination (shop.ca). He skates with friends a couple of times a week.

"Things happen in life and there are different paths that are taken and you roll with it and move on," Lindros said. "Hockey was one chapter of my life. I had a great time playing, I was a part of so much. I got to represent my country for over a decade at all the big international events. Hockey is fantastic.

"You can look at [my career] any way you want. I try to look at it as half full. I look at the good times, and there were many."

Lindros loved, he laughed and cried. He had his fill, his share of losing. And now, as tears subside, he must find it all so amusing.

"When we made the deal, the idea was that he would become another Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux," former Flyers GM Russ Farwell, the man who made that blockbuster deal with Quebec, told the Daily News in 1996. "If he does, it was a good trade. If he doesn't, it wasn't."

The banner raised to the rafters tonight will not be inscribed with either "Lemieux" or "Gretzky," but "Eric Lindros." For a chunk of years, that was enough. The record shows he took the blows, and did it his way.

Blog: ph.ly/FrequentFlyers

Ages/with Flyers: 19-26. Age/today: 41.

How acquired: Via trade with Quebec for Peter Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Steve Duchesne, Ron Hextall, Kerry Huffman, Chris Simon, a first-round pick in 1993 (Jocelyn Thibault), a first-round pick in 1994 (Nolan Baumgartner, Washington) and $15 million cash.

Notable: Quebec actually had trades lined up with the Flyers and Rangers before arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi ruled in favor of the Flyers.

Flyers career: Scored 290 goals from 1992-2000 and another 24 in 50 postseason games ... Endeared himself to fans with a tearful pledge to bring the Stanley Cup to Philadelphia after winning the 1995 MVP ... Was named team captain in 1994 before his relationship with the team became so poisoned that he was stripped of the title in 2000 ... Played in six All-Star Games ... Suffered at least six concussions during his Flyers career, the most infamous coming from a vicious open-ice hit by New Jersey's Scott Stevens in Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference finals ... Sat out the 2000-01 season in a contract dispute and was traded to the Rangers on Aug. 20, 2001.

After the Flyers: Played for the Rangers for three seasons, including an All-Star campaign in 2001-02 when he had 73 points in 72 games ... Played one season each in Toronto (2005-06) and Dallas (2006-07) before retiring in 2007 at age 34.

Did you know? Scored his 600th point in his 429th game. Only Wayne Gretzky (273), Mario Lemieux (323), Peter Stastny (394), Mike Bossy (400) and Jari

Kurri (419) needed fewer games for 600 points.

- Ed Barkowitz