|
|
|
Friday, November 3, 2000
Lindros will be a target but it's his choice
By Rob Parent
Special to ESPN.com
|
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Just in case anyone still didn't believe he was
comfortable with his decision to play in Wednesday's Game 6 of the East finals, Eric Lindros greeted the buzzards after the game-day skate with a lightness that belies the gravity of his situation.
"Everybody enjoy the morning skate today?" Lindros asked.
|
“ |
I
don't care what style of game he plays tonight.
It'll have to be difficult for him. Just working out
and playing pickup games like he's been aren't
the same as what he's doing here. This is not an
exhibition game. But all the power to him if he can
do it. ” |
|
|
— Devils coach Larry Robinson on Lindros
playing |
Just an hour beforehand, Larry Robinson, whose own career situation isn't
nearly as serious -- even though the team he coaches was still one loss from
elimination -- was also in a humorous mood. Asked what new dangers Lindros'
presence would
present to his Devils, Robinson said, "Well, he's a physical guy. You don't
stand in front of a moving train."
No, but if you're Scott Stevens or Ken Daneyko or Bobby Holik or Randy
McKay or any other physical Devil, and you have but another corporeal
challenge presented to you in a win-or-else situation, you don't just stand
around, either.
So as Eric Lindros, once the captain of the Flyers and now just a guy who
wants to be part of a championship team so badly that he's finally agreed to
risk his health for it, gets ready to take the ice at the
Continental Airlines Arena, don't expect any Devils to lie down in
front of him.
This moving train will be treated the way Gomez Adams used to treat his
locomotive toys.
"I don't care what style of game he plays tonight," Robinson said. "It'll
have to be difficult for him. Just working out and playing pickup games like
he's been aren't the same as what he's doing here. This is not an exhibition
game. But all the power to him if he can do it."
That smile curling at the corners of Robinson's mouth wasn't nearly as
perceptible as the broad grin that would crease Lindros' face later. But it
did seem a bit more sincere.
Among management loyalists, there have been strongly voiced opinions -- "uh, off the record, of course" -- that he didn't want to return. That
every verbal outrage and physical mishap was all part of an extended
retirement plan.
|  | | Lindros isn't smiling much these days, and he's certainly not in a Flyers practice uniform. |
"I don't think he wants to play," one Flyers management official said
before the playoffs. "He sees what his brother is doing ... he wants to do
the same thing."
Brett Lindros will likely be home tonight, watching his older brother risk
it all for what might be his last chance at a ring. And how ironic is it that
the best reason for this decision to rush Lindros back is that it represents
a distraction worth creating?
For every Lindros appearance on ice, there will be attention drawn by one
or more of the Devils.
Stevens and his newly honed elbows aiming for a piece of that high-priced
brow. Holik and McKay given the double duty of adding Lindros to their prime
checking responsibilities.
Yes, his skills will show the effects of 10 weeks' dormancy. But if it's
an extra presence the Flyers need to add to the Devils' list of concerns -- not to mention an extra power play force for a unit that's 1-for-12 in
the series -- why not Lindros? And even if Stevens knocks him back out of the
series ... the Flyers should get a two-minute power play for the trouble, eh?
"When you're out for a long time, you're probably (worried) about timing more than
anything," said Flyers winger Rick Tocchet. "But usually a player out a long
time plays really well when he first comes back. You don't usually hit the
wall until the third or fourth game.
"His shot is one of the best in the league. It's going to make them pull
another guy out to the high slot. You look at (Jason) Arnott's goal the last
game, that's the type of thing Eric can do. He's going to make them pull out
(from the net) and create room. He's going to let somebody have an extra
second in there somewhere."
Even if his playing time is limited to what seems like seconds, Lindros'
presence will have an impact. Physically and emotionally, too.
"He's been a part of this team for a long time," said Flyers coach Craig
Ramsay. "I felt he deserved the opportunity."
Detailing Lindros' many mishaps this year is just rehashing old news. But it all fits in very well with what he's about to do tonight
... Taking another step into the unknown.
"I know it's been a physical series," said Lindros, who'll be on the ice
tonight with teammates Keith Primeau and Daymond Langkow, both of whom are also playing with yellowed visions of recent concussions still flashing in
the backs of their jolted brains. "But I look forward to being a part of
that."
You can follow the theories as to why in all directions:
Lindros knows he won't be completely welcomed back by the team because of his rants and the stripping him of his captaincy. So
he's desperately trying to get some playing time under his belt to prove to
any prospective employers that he is still a very valuable and marketable
commodity.
Lindros still wants to do everything in his power to prove Flyers
president Bob Clarke wrong. Perceived as Lindros' top critic, it is with
Clarke that Lindros' problems in Philadelphia didn't exactly begin, but will
almost certainly end with.
And then there's the reason that both the company and the player are
aligning with ... that he really is risking his mental health to beat the
resurgent Devils one more time, and thus give him and the Flyers a real
chance at winning the long-sought Stanley Cup.
"I just want to get out there and play hockey," Lindros said. "Everybody's
got butterflies heading into playoff games, and I'm not much different. I'll
give it all I've got."
It's probably easy to say that what he's got won't be much. Since
suffering renewed symptoms after being run over by a minir leaguer in a scrimmage skate, Lindros has only been skating lightly and working out for a
little over a week. His first full practice with his team since March took
place Tuesday -- a light shooting drill and skatearound that was followed by
the dramatic announcement that he's fit for Game 6.
He hasn't had anyone -- certainly not with the aimed desire of a Stevens,
for example -- line him up for a big hit in months. And in this series with
the Devils, there has already been one Flyer who received 39 stitches and one
Flyer who received a concussion; one Devil who received 40 stitches and one
Devil who was tagged with a knee injury.
And that's not including several others with bandages and assorted ice
packs permanently fixed to them as a result of the ferocious pace of this
series. All in all, it's not ideal conditions for a Lindros return. He may
not be the china doll that Lessard almost shattered three weeks ago, but he's
also nowhere near full battering ran strength.
Then again, he knows that going in.
"We're not given that (amount of) time here," Lindros said. "Obviously,
with time, things will improve. But I feel right now that I can go in there
and help out."
He thinks. He's not sure. His father, who has already lost one son's
career to this strange, unknown world of concussions likely has his own mind
made up on the issue, but his silence right now speaks volumes.
As the Flyers keep saying, playing Lindros in Game 6 was his idea.
His decision. His desire. His passion.
It's the first thing they've agreed with him on in a long time.
Rob Parent covers the NHL for the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. His NHL East column appears every week on ESPN.com.
|
|
ALSO SEE
ESPN.com's NHL playoffs coverage
|
|
