ELItorial

Lindros and the playground bully

When Bob Clarke was a kid, choosing sides for street games of hockey must have been a grim affair. We can see little Bobby shoving the half-melted candy bar at the strongest, biggest kid on the block, binding him to a summer of servitude and humiliation on his team.

WAYNE SCARBERRY/NEWSMAKERS Eric Lindros may be one of the NHL's best players, but a spat with Flyers General Manager Bob Clarke could sideline him for the next few seasons.

Bobby probably didn't even like the big kid; the big kid probably intimidated him and reminded him of his own shortcomings as a player (Bobby was a tough little punk in the little league circuit before he traded in his stick for the manager's cap). But Bobby was also a shrewd little seven-year-old. "Look, you gotta be on my team because I don't want Johnny to win the neighborhood playoffs. But you can't play with us because your mom always yells at me."

Years later, Clarke grew up to be the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, and he's still got the big kid by the nose. Although he's waving $8.5 million and not a Hershey bar under Eric Lindros' nose, the noose is just as tight and the reasoning is just as juvenile.

Lindros came and stayed with the Flyers for eight seasons following a mammoth trade with Quebec in 1992. The Ontario native had 28 goals and 32 assists in 57 games last season, including four periods of the playoffs. During his time in Philly, the 6' 4", 236-pound center has made six All-Star teams and won the Hart Trophy in 1995, but the Flyers lost in their only Stanley Cup finals appearance with him. He led the team until last season, when Clarke stripped him of his captaincy following a public quarrel over the GM's response to Lindros' concussion. (Clarke can perhaps be forgiven for his "been there, done that" reaction time—Lindros has suffered six concussions in the past 27 months.) Lindros' relationship with Clarke, his childhood hero, deteriorated to a point where the two men didn't speak for months.

Lindros has now been declared ready to play by a Chicago neurologist. But even prior to getting a clean bill of health, Lindros declared that he would not return to play for the Flyers—Clarke's public criticism of his former captain must have played a part in Lindros' reluctance to don the black and orange. And the qualifying offer that Clarke put out in July, which would give Lindros $8.5 million and a chance of being sent back to the minors, might have the once-hottest player in the league a bit miffed. At this point, Philadelphia can expect to lose Lindros even if it can match any other offers made to the 27-year-old restricted free agent.

Lindros is adamant that he will not rejoin the Flyers, and Clarke doesn't seem to want his center back all that badly. He is more intent on getting his money back from a commensurable trade, which will be hard to find given Lindros' condition (he still needs months to train and recuperate) and Clarke's calculatedly high asking price. Clarke seems willing to do everything he can to keep Lindros on the bench. And no other team in the league has expressed interest in the volatile player, who before his series of injuries and public flare-ups was considered the next Wayne Gretzky.

So Lindros, still the biggest kid with the greatest potential, is now the kid no one wants on his team. He's the one standing on the sidewalk when the other kids are arguing about which position they should get to play. Clarke needs to go back to kindergarten to relearn the basics of sharing and caring. Given his current feelings towards his star player, who gave him eight solid years and a fair share of grief, Lindros is likely to either wither away on the Philly bench, wreak havoc in the minors, or languish on the bench until he turns 31—when he can become an unrestricted free agent, tell Clarke to shove his candy bar, and look for a team that appreciates him.

Or little Bobby can make up for the allegorical tyranny of his youth and set Lindros free. The Flyers will lose their poster boy and a few bucks in the less-than-parallel, but the NHL will regain a brilliant, exciting player whose career is far from over. And perhaps we can all learn the lesson that money isn't everything.

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