Eric Lindros snubbed again by Hockey Hall of Fame

Tuesday afternoon Scott Niedermayer, Brendan Shanahan, Chris Chelios, Geraldine Heaney and Fred Shero were officially inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Missing from that list, yet again, was Eric Lindros.

Ask yourself this: What if Eric Lindros hadn’t refused to play for the Quebec Nordiques when he went first overall in the 1991 NHL draft? What if he didn’t get into all those arguments with the Philadelphia Flyers’ management? What if Lindros’ parents had stayed in the shadows? What if he had been able to stay healthy for a couple more years at his peak?

That’s the whole thing about Lindros’ career – it’s just one big “what if.” No one can argue that he was one of the most dominant hockey players for a while in the ‘90s. He won the Hart Trophy and the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1994-95, played in seven NHL All-Star games, and owns an Olympic gold and silver medal. He scored 1.138 points per game, putting him 15th among retired players, while spending nearly two minutes per game in the penalty box. When he was healthy, there was no one like him and he forced opposing teams to load up with big defencemen and big centres just to contain him.

There’s no denying Lindros’ impact on the game when he was playing, the problem for him was the impression he left with the voting committee. He was eligible to join the Hall of Fame in 2010, so he’s been waiting around for a while. Lindros has had a tough time considering the caliber of players he’s been up against. With just four players inducted annually, it’s really no surprise he’s been waiting around so long, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.

He wasn’t well liked in the hockey community and the only thing that will cure that is time. He was also questioned for sitting out long periods of time following serious concussions. Things have changed a lot since then. These days Sidney Crosby sits out a full season with a concussion and is applauded and if he played in this era in which headshots are outlawed, Lindros might have been even more dominant.

Right now though, he’ll just keep on waiting for next year and the reality is, the Big E may never make it into the Hall. Whether that’s fair or not is something we all have to decide for ourselves.