Personal life

The oldest son of Carl Lindros and Bonnie Roszell-Lindros, Eric has Swedish heritage. The name "Lindros" means "Rose of the Linden tree." His great-grandfather Axel immigrated to Canada from Bredaryd, a small village in Sweden, and Eric is the third generation of the Lindros family to be born in Canada. His father Carl Lindros received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario (where he played football, well enough to be drafted 30th overall by the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos in the 1970 CFL College Draft), and became a chartered accountant. Lindros' mother Bonnie is a registered nurse. Lindros has one brother, Brett, and one sister, Robin.

Lindros' younger brother Brett played for the New York Islanders and retired early on May 1, 1996, due to post-concussion syndrome.

The book Fire on Ice, co-written by Randy Starkman and published in October 1991 by HarperCollins, chronicled the life and early hockey career of Lindros.

Lindros is married since 2012 to Kina Lamarche, a native Quebecer and former president of the North American wing of Travelex. The Lindroses live in Toronto and are close friends with the Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell family, passionate hockey fans who are nearby neighbours at the Lindros vacation cottage in Muskoka, Ontario.

Hockey career

Junior career (1989-1992)

As a teenage power forward playing minor hockey, Lindros became nationally famous both for his scoring feats and his ability to physically dominate players older than himself. He attended Monarch Park and later St. Michael's College School in Toronto with his brother and fellow hockey player, Brett. Both brothers at one time or another (Eric in 1988-89) played for the school's Metro Junior "B" St. Michael's Buzzers before moving up to the OHL. Lindros' play made him the most highly-valued amateur player in North America and he was often nicknamed "The Next One," a reference to Wayne Gretzky's moniker "The Great One."

Throughout his career, Lindros has been tagged with various other nicknames, including "The Big E." The hype around Lindros during his early career led to an exclusive deal with sports card manufacturer Score. Attempting to leverage this arrangement as much as possible, he was even featured on a baseball card showing him as a third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, although the closest he came to a professional baseball career was taking batting practice one day with the Blue Jays.

Lindros refused to sign with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds after being drafted from St. Michael's. Greyhounds owner Phil Esposito had drafted him anyway, enabling Esposito to sell his share in the team at a higher price. Lindros was traded to the Oshawa Generals instead, and when they played the Greyhounds, some Greyhound players wore black armbands in protest of Lindros' refusal to play for their team.

He played parts of three seasons for the Generals from 1990 to 1992. During that time, he scored 180 goals, 200 assists, 380 points and had 437 penalty minutes in 157 games played.

Lindros helped lead the Generals to the 1990 J. Ross Robertson Cup, and a 1990 Memorial Cup victory.

During the 1990-91 season, Lindros won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as top scorer, the Red Tilson Trophy as MVP, the CHL Player of the Year award and the CHL Top Draft Prospect Award. The Generals returned to the Robertson Cup finals, facing Sault Ste. Marie. The series was one of the more dramatic in OHL history given Lindros's attitude toward the team, with fans from the Soo loudly jeering him every time he touched the puck. The Greyhounds upset the heavily-favoured defending champions in a six-game series, winning the last game on home ice.

On March 6, 2008, the Generals retired his jersey number 88, the second number to be retired by the franchise, and it was declared Eric Lindros Day in Oshawa.

1991 NHL Entry Draft

See also: Eric Lindros trade

Lindros was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. Lindros had signaled in advance that he would never play for the Nordiques, citing the city's isolation, lack of marketing potential, and French character; the team selected him anyway. Nordiques President Marcel Aubut publicly announced that they would make Lindros the centrepiece of their franchise turnaround, and refused to trade Lindros, saying that he would not have a career in the NHL as long as he held out. Because of Lindros' popularity and hype, it is alleged that NHL President Gil Stein intervened to get the Nordiques to trade him, as it would otherwise damage the image of the League. While he awaited a trade, Lindros spent the time playing with the Generals and also participated in the 1992 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal with Canada.

At the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, the Nordiques worked out trades involving Lindros with both the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. The Flyers trade had the Nordiques receiving Steve Duchesne, Ron Hextall, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, the rights to Peter Forsberg, the Flyers' first-round pick in 1992 (seventh overall) and 1993 and $15 million. The trade with the Rangers had the Nordiques receiving Tony Amonte, Alexei Kovalev, John Vanbiesbrouck, Doug Weight, three first-round picks (in 1993, 1994 and 1996) and $12 million. Additionally, if Vanbiesbrouck was declared an unrestricted free agent, James Patrick would have replaced him in the deal. The Flyers, believing they had consummated their deal with the Nordiques first, filed a complaint and the NHL announced an independent arbitrator would be appointed.

On June 30, 1992, 11 days after the draft, arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi ruled in favor of the Flyers. Bertuzzi determined that the Flyers and Nordiques had agreed to a trade 80 minutes before the Rangers and Nordiques had reached their agreement. Since the Flyers used the 1992 pick to select Ryan Sittler and Quebec had no interest in Sittler, the Flyers and Nordiques had to agree on a substitution for the pick. On July 21, Bertuzzi ruled that Chris Simon and the Flyers' 1994 first-round pick would be added to the trade.

Philadelphia Flyers

With his imposing physical strength and playmaking ability, Lindros established himself as the top player on a Flyers team that had perennially been in contention but always fell short. His time in Philadelphia would see him score points (for much of his first 5 seasons in the NHL, Lindros hovered around 4th all-time in points per game) and become one of the most feared and dominating players in the NHL. In September 1994, Lindros succeeded Kevin Dineen as Flyers captain. Along with John LeClair and Mikael Renberg, he played on the dreaded "Legion of Doom" line. He scored over 40 goals in each of his first two seasons and won the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP in the lockout-shortened season of 1995 after scoring 29 goals and 41 assists in 46 games and leading the Flyers to their first playoff appearance in six years.

Lindros led the Flyers to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, handily defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers in five games apiece. In the Finals, however, the Flyers were swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings; Lindros' only goal came with 14 seconds left in the third period of Game 4. As a franchise player, Lindros was expected to carry the team, but he had not lived up to expectations nor had he shown leadership during the Finals series. Detroit Head Coach Scotty Bowman used the fitness-oriented defence pairing of Nicklas Lidström and Larry Murphy against Lindros' Legion of Doom line instead of sending out—as everyone, including the Flyers, expected—Vladimir Konstantinov to engage in a physical confrontation.

In 1998, Lindros, at just 25 years of age, was ranked number 54th on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players of all time. The only player of comparable age was 37th-ranked Jaromír Jágr, who was 26 at the time.

Lindros' relationship with Flyers General Manager Bobby Clarke soon deteriorated. He and Clarke feuded in the media, with Clarke questioning his toughness; Lindros spent many games on the injured reserve and suffered a series of concussions, the first in 1998 from a hit delivered by Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis that sidelined him for 18 games. Lindros would suffer a second concussion in January 1999 that sidelined him for two games. During an April 1, 1999, game against the Nashville Predators, Lindros suffered what was diagnosed as a rib injury. Later that night, the teammate he was sharing a hotel room with, Keith Jones, discovered Lindros lying in a tub, pale and cold. In a call to the Flyers, the trainer was told to put Lindros on a plane that was returning to Philadelphia with injured teammate Mark Recchi. But Jones insisted that Lindros be taken to a nearby hospital and it was discovered Lindros had a collapsed lung caused by internal bleeding of his chest wall. Lindros' father wrote the Flyers a letter in which he stated that if the trainer had followed team orders, Eric would be dead, a statement supported by the doctors who treated him in Nashville.

The 1999-2000 season would be Lindros' last as a Flyer. Having suffered his second concussion of the season (fourth overall) in March, Lindros criticized the team's trainers for failing to diagnose a concussion as he played with symptoms following a hit he suffered in a game against the Boston Bruins two weeks prior. Clarke then stripped Lindros of the captaincy for his actions. Lindros sat out the remainder of the regular season and suffered another concussion while rehabilitating for a return to the lineup. Lindros ultimately returned for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New Jersey Devils; he scored the lone goal in a 2-1 Flyers loss, and in Game 7, suffered yet another concussion after a hit by Devils defenceman Scott Stevens. The Flyers lost Game 7, 2-1 and the series despite leading three games to one, and Lindros became a restricted free agent during the off-season. He refused to accept a two-way qualifying offer with a minor league provision from the Flyers, who still owned his rights. After Lindros was cleared to play in December, the Flyers refused to deal his rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs, as he preferred, and Lindros sat out the entire 2000-01 season.

New York Rangers

Bobby Clarke eventually traded Lindros to the New York Rangers on August 20, 2001, in exchange for Jan Hlaváč, Kim Johnsson, Pavel Brendl and a 2003 third-round draft choice (Štefan Ružička). The Rangers would also receive a 2003 first-round draft pick if Lindros were to suffer a concussion in the pre-season or the first 50 games of the regular season, and did not return to action for at least 12 months.

In 2001-02, Lindros averaged a little over a point a game with 37 goals and 36 assists for 73 points in 72 games. His impressive start also led to his seventh and final All-Star selection, but due to an injury he was unable to participate and was replaced by teammate Mike York. Though 2002-03 was the first injury-free season of his career, he struggled to match his previous season, scoring just 53 points in 81 games. In 2003-04, Lindros' eighth concussion limited him to just 39 games, though he did collect 32 points. He again became an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Toronto Maple Leafs

On August 11, 2005, after the NHL labour dispute had cancelled the 2004-05 season, Lindros signed a one-year, $1.55 million contract with the Maple Leafs for the 2005-06 season. After a steady start to his tenure with Toronto in which he recorded 22 points in 32 games, Lindros suffered a tear of a ligament in his left wrist against the Dallas Stars on December 10, 2005. After a 27-game absence, Lindros returned to the Toronto lineup on February 28, 2006, his 33rd birthday, against the Washington Capitals. His return was brief, however, as he re-injured his wrist while taking a slapshot in a game against the Ottawa Senators on March 4, effectively ending his season. He had surgery on the wrist at the Hand and Upper Limb Centre in London, Ontario, two days after the game.

Dallas Stars and retirement

Lindros signed a one-year contract for the 2006-07 season with Dallas on July 17, 2006. He would play in 49 regular season games collecting 26 points, and three games in the 2007 playoffs.

Lindros officially announced his retirement on November 8, 2007, in London at the age of 34.

Career achievements

• Fourth-fastest player in NHL history to score 300 points (210 games) behind Wayne Gretzky (159), Mario Lemieux (186) and Peter Šťastný (186);
• Fourth-fastest player in NHL history to score 400 points (277 games) behind Wayne Gretzky (197), Mario Lemieux (240) and Peter Šťastný (247);
• Fifth-fastest player in NHL history to score 500 points (352 games) behind Wayne Gretzky (234), Mario Lemieux (287), Peter Šťastný (322) and Mike Bossy (349);
• Sixth-fastest player in NHL history to score 600 points (429 games) behind Wayne Gretzky (273), Mario Lemieux (323), Peter Šťastný (394), Mike Bossy (400) and Jari Kurri (419).

Post-playing career

On the day of his retirement, November 8, 2007, it was also announced that Lindros had donated $5 million dollars to the London Health Sciences Centre. This donation supports programs such as the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic, and is one of the largest personal donations by a Canadian sports figure.

On November 11, 2007, three days after his retirement, the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) appointed Lindros to the newly-created position of NHLPA ombudsman. Lindros had been involved with the organization throughout his career. Lindros cut ties with the NHLPA, however, on February 3, 2009, resigning as ombudsman after 15 months on the job.

On May 9, 2010, Lindros, along with his mother Bonnie, supermodel/actress Monika Schnarre and a few other Canadian notables, helped Habitat for Humanity Toronto by recognizing Mother's Day by building homes. On December 31, 2011, he played in the 2012 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Transactions

• June 22, 1991 - Drafted by the Quebec Nordiques with the 1st-overall pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft;
• June 30, 1992 - Traded by the Quebec Nordiques to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Steve Duchesne, Ron Hextall, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Chris Simon, the rights to Peter Forsberg, Philadelphia's 1993 first-round draft pick (Jocelyn Thibault), Philadelphia's 1994 first-round pick (Nolan Baumgartner) and $15 million;
• August 20, 2001 - Traded by the Flyers to the New York Rangers along with a conditional 2003 first-round pick (condition not met) in exchange for Pavel Brendl, Jan Hlaváč, Kim Johnsson and the Rangers' 2003 third-round pick (Štefan Ružička);
• August 11, 2005 - Signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs;
• July 17, 2006 - Signed as a free agent with the Dallas Stars;
• November 8, 2007 - Officially announced his retirement from the NHL at age 34.

Awards

Junior

Award	Year
Jack Ferguson Award	1989
Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy	1991
Red Tilson Trophy	1991
OHL First Team All-Star	1991
CHL Player of the Year	1991
Memorial Cup All-Star	1991
OHL Top Draft Prospect Award	1991

Professional

Award	Year
NHL All-Rookie Team	1993
Hart Memorial Trophy	1995
Lester B. Pearson Award	1995
NHL First All-Star Team	1995
NHL Second All-Star Team	1996
Bobby Clarke Trophy	1994, 1995, 1996, 1999
NHL All-Star	1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002

International

Award	Year
IIHF World U20 Championship All-Star Team	1991
IIHF World U20 Championship Best Forward	1991
Winter Olympic Games Ice Hockey All-Star Team	1992
World Championship All-Star Team	1993
World Championship Best Forward	1993

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1988-89	St. Michael's Buzzers	CJBHL		37	24	43	67	193		27	23	25	48	155
1988-89	Canadian National Team	—		2	1	0	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
1989-90	Detroit Compuware Ambassadors	NAHL		14	23	29	52	123		—	—	—	—	—
1989-90	Canadian National Team	—		3	1	0	1	4		—	—	—	—	—
1989-90	Oshawa Generals	OHL		25	17	19	36	61		17	18	18	36	76
1989-90	Oshawa Generals	M-Cup		—	—	—	—	—		4	0	9	9	12
1990-91	Oshawa Generals	OHL		57	71	78	149	189		16	18	20	38	93
1991-92	Oshawa Generals	OHL		13	9	22	31	54		—	—	—	—	—
1991-92	Canadian National Team	—		24	19	16	35	34		—	—	—	—	—
1992-93	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		61	41	34	75	147		—	—	—	—	—
1993-94	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		65	44	53	97	103		—	—	—	—	—
1994-95	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		46	29	41	70	60		12	4	11	15	18
1995-96	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		73	47	68	115	163		12	6	6	12	43
1996-97	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		52	32	47	79	136		19	12	14	26	40
1997-98	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		63	30	41	71	134		5	1	2	3	17
1998-99	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		71	40	53	93	120		—	—	—	—	—
1999-00	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		55	27	32	59	83		2	1	0	1	0
2001-02	New York Rangers	NHL		72	37	36	73	138		—	—	—	—	—
2002-03	New York Rangers	NHL		81	19	34	53	141		—	—	—	—	—
2003-04	New York Rangers	NHL		39	10	22	32	60		—	—	—	—	—
2005-06	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		33	11	11	22	43		—	—	—	—	—
2006-07	Dallas Stars	NHL		49	5	21	26	70		3	0	0	0	4
NHL totals				760	372	493	865	1398		53	24	33	57	122
OHL totals				95	97	119	216	304		33	36	38	74	169

International

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1990	Canada	WJC		7	4	0	4	14
1991	Canada	WJC		7	6	11	17	6
1991	Canada	CC		8	3	2	5	8
1992	Canada	WJC		7	2	8	10	12
1992	Canada	OG		8	5	6	11	5
1993	Canada	WC		8	11	6	17	10
1996	Canada	WCH		8	3	3	6	10
1998	Canada	OG		6	2	3	5	2
2002	Canada	OG		6	1	0	1	8
Junior int'l totals				29	17	25	42	37
Senior int'l totals				36	20	14	34	38

All-Star Games

Year	Location		GP	G	A	P
1994	Madison Square Garden			1	0	1
1996	FleetCenter			1	0	1
1997	San Jose Arena			0	2	2
1998	General Motors Place			1	0	1
1999	Ice Palace			0	0	0
2000	Air Canada Centre			0	0	0
2002	Staples Center		DNP	—	—	—
All-Star totals			6	3	2	5

International play

Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
	2002 Salt Lake City	Ice hockey
	1992 Albertville	Ice hockey

Played for Canada in:

• 1990 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
• 1991 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
• 1991 Canada Cup (championship)
• 1992 World Junior Championships
• 1992 Winter Olympics (silver medal)
• 1993 World Championships
• 1996 World Cup of Hockey
• 1998 Winter Olympics
• 2002 Winter Olympics (gold medal)

Quotes

By Lindros

• "Right now my focus is the 'PA work, I'm not really concerned about the rest of it. But the last couple of years have been pretty frustrating in terms of not getting through without being injury-free. It's just frustrating."
• "My decision to retire from professional hockey is something that I have been considering for some time and did not come easily. I will miss the day-to-day activity of being a member of a team and the camaraderie that I developed with my teammates will never be forgotten. I played with the best, I played against the best — it was a blast. It really truly was. I enjoyed myself immensely."

About Lindros

• "He had it all: size, strength and finesse, It is unfortunate injuries cut his time in the NHL short, but he had a great career and left his mark on the game." —John LeClair.
• "Yes, based on his ability to play the game and based on his contributions as a player, I think you have to separate all the crap that went on. Particularly when he played for the Flyers, it was just outstanding, dominant hockey — the first of the huge, big men with small man's skill." — Bobby Clarke, on whether Lindros should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]