Hey, Rangers fans! A Flyers fan is curious...

In My Humble Opinion
1

There has to be one or two of you around right, or was Satan the only NY Rangers fan on the board?

Anyway… You’re about to trade forward Jan Hlavac, defenseman Kim Johnsson, young forward Pavel Brendl and a middle-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for Eric Lindros (AP story).

How do you feel? Apparently NY sports radio is running 80/20 against the trade.

I, as a Flyers fan, think this is a good trade. Brendl has a lot of upside, and Hlavac scored more goals than Lindros last year (heh heh). Johnsson is both Swedish and a defensemen (both good things in my opinion), and you never know who will come through in the middle round of the draft.

The Flyers are also offering a first round pick as insurance in case Lindros gets hammered again and can’t play. When do the Rangers play Scott Stevens and the Devils this season? I hope it’s after the cut-off for the conditional pick. :stuck_out_tongue:

So, opinions?

2

NY sports radio, as far as I can tell, isn’t so generous as to give 20% support for the trade.
At this point, all of the Ranger fans I know (including me) are hoping against hope that he somehow fails his physical so the trade won’t go through.
[rant]This is the stupidest trade ever in the history of the team! Including the Ridley & Miller for Bobby Carpenter trade, which is saying something! The man has freaking scrambled eggs for brains, and could be finished on his first shift, and you trade our future away for that? [/rant]
Look, when the man’s healthy he’s truly a great player. I’m just unwilling to trade all of our best young talent for somebody who will probably be out of the sport for life with the first hard check he gets.
It’s great for you Flyer fans, though.
Personally, I have too much respect for Glenn Sather (our GM) to believe that he actually wanted to do this. I’ve heard a theory that Dolan (his boss, the owner’s representative) made him do it, to get a marquee name in to fill seats. If true, this is really upsetting, because it means that the idiot who knows absolutely zero about hockey is making decisions, which could screw us up for many many years to come.

3

Oh, and we play the Devils a lot. But I doubt that any draft pick could ever compensate for what we’re losing here.

4

I just don’t understand it. Really.

I know Sather is supposed to be a genius, and I do respect his history with the Oilers an’ all, but WTF? We’re trading our top prospect, the untouchable prospect we wouldn’t give up for Jagr, for Lindros?! And throwing in Johnsson and Hlavac?! You’re damn right it’s a good deal for the F-ers.

What, Jagr isn’t a marquee name? Can somebody please give us a rationale for this?

5

A local (Philly) TV sports talk show had a few sportwriters today theorize that the Ranger’s management feels it needs a marquee player, and Jagr used to be that player. Since Jagr is gone, management felt that Lindross could be the new marquee, and in an attempt to keep the stands full doesn’t much consider or care about actually developing the young talent it has so much as keeping a “name” player on the ice.

6

So Sather wouldn’t give up Brendl for Jagr, but will for Lindros, because Jagr is now gone and management is desperate for a marquee name, any marquee name, to sustain fan interest.

Only . . .

That definitely doesn’t sound like something Sather would do. If MSG brass is really calling the shots on this one, they’re really going to tank the franchise before it gets back on its feet.

And I’m not sure putting Lindros in a Rangers uniform will generate more fan interest, given the animosity most Rangers fans seem to feel toward him. Especially if he finds it difficult to stay in uniform. Hell, maybe Sather’s got something up his sleeve regarding next year’s draft, and is gambling Lindros won’t make it past the minimum.

7

I definitely do not want ol’ Jelly-head Eggplant Lindros putting on a Ranger sweater!

As others have said this is a terrible trade. We weren’t willing to give up Brendl in a deal for Jagr (one of the top 3 players in the league), but we’ll give him up for a head case that hasn’t played in over a year.

The Rangers are in the same division as the Devils (with Stevens) and the Islanders have Peca now. You don’t want to be skating with your head down (something Lindros seems to have a bad habit of doing) when those two guys are on the ice. And how much ribbing would Ranger fans get if a Devil or Islander ended Lindros’s career as a Ranger?

Hlavac (a 20 goal scorer) and Johnsson (a puck moving defenseman) are too much to give up, but then Brendl (and a pick) on top of that?! That’s way too much.

I don’t know where this idea that Ranger fans aren’t willing to wait is coming from. They waited 54 years for the 94 Cup, and the Garden is always sold out whether the team makes the playoffs or not. Most of the Ranger fans I know are more than willing to wait another 4 or 5 years for a competitive team that was built from within instead of bringing in mercenaries every year.

Then again us Ranger fans can always keep our fingers crossed hoping that the Kings are looking to bring some star power to LA: http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2001/0816/1240576.html

8

What should be killing Rangers fans is the fact that the deal they are offering the Flyers for Lindros is better than the deal the Pens got for Jagr.
While Sather had developed the reputation of being able to straighten up “troubled” players (we’ll see with Fleury) he has never had to deal with anybody like Carl and Bonnie Lindros.

9

I’m just reporting what I heard. I don’t follow hockey that much, and the Flyers are the local team or I wouldn’t even know that much. I don’t understand it, and from my perspective, the Rangers are being pretty damn dumb. Giving up that much for a guy who hasn’t played in 15 months, and most of that hold-out time as he whined and complained that he couldn’t go to Toronto? Sorry, Lindross needs to get out from under his parents’ thumbs and learn he can’t always have things the way he wants because his daddy said so.

10

OK, I wore a Rangers jersey to a dopefest, so I can surely answer.

<old fart rant>
Gila, this trade is worse than those. This may rank with Middleton-for-Hodge
</old fart rant>

Adam, this was supposely offered for Jagr, but the Pens don’t want to deal with NY. Patrick has a history with them? (fired)

More like 800-20 against. Slats, have some Charmin, you have shit in your ears from keeping it shoved up your ass.

I’m not worried about Peca doing it, he isn’t that big, but anyone seen Holik lately? And it could be a teammate - Keane finished off LaFontaine, when they both weren’t watching where they were going and collided at the blue line. (BTW , a Ranger started Pat LaF down the slippery slope - James Patrick, when Pat was an Isle)

Let’s see, a 28 goal man, a mobile d-man, and a sniper for Humpty Dumpty? and some report have the NYR giving up a middle round pick, too. Hey, maybe Brendl will be a bust. His work ethic has been questioned, and previously has let his conditioning slip. But he’s trained this year, and 19 y.o. let a lot of things slip. Maybe he’ll be the next junior phenom to fail. Still, you don’t trade a sniper until he’s been tested. They’re like baseball sluggers. A true one is rare. I usually go to about 10 games a year, and someone’s been hinting she wants a jersey to match mine. Well, tickets aren’t on sale till next month, and the jersey was gonna be Christmas. If this deal goes thru, I am not laying out $250 on tix and $80-100 on a jersey. I’ll watch on TV and stick pins in my Sather doll.

That said, is a trade deosn’t materialize Booby Clarke may have problems. He’s let resources sit, and been mad after they complained about medical care **THAT COULD’VE GOTTEN THEM KILLED ** (they almost had him fly with a punctured lung) The crybaby and cheap shot artist deserve each other.

11

If this is the case than Mario needs to fire Patrick himself. He has to be accountable for not taking the best deal on the table regardless of his personal feelings. Of course by the same rational, Lindros needs to fire his parents.

12

I’m staying out of this thread because I like watching Rangers fans bitch and moan. :slight_smile:

But, Clarke is in complete control here. The Flyers did rather well last year without Lindros, and should do even better this year without him, or the players they might get for him. In other words, Clarke will gladly let Lindros rot on his ass for another season and watch the Flyers do rather well.

Lindros refuses to play for the Flyers (which should make his first game back in Philly an interesting one…), and turned down an $8.5m contract. It looks like he’ll be getting something in that ballpark from Sather, so he basically lost a year by refusing to play for the Flyers.

13

There were issues between the Lindros camp (read Carl and Bonnie) and the Flyers (read Clarke) before Lindros refused that $8.5 million contract.

At the Nagano Olympics, Clarke tried to pull a Satheresque move. Clarke, as the Canadian GM, gave the captains ‘C’ to Lindros in hopes that he would become the leader that Clarke always thought he was going to be. Lindros didn’t play well and IMHO Clarke feels he looked like a fool for giving Lindros too much responsibility on a team that included Gretzky, Yzerman, Sakic and Nieuwendyk (all leaders, all proven quantities).

Then there was the issue with the Flyers medical staff. Lindros suffered a collapsed lung that, I think, went undiagnosed until it was almost too late. There was also the concussion that he suffered (the one before the Stevens hit) that seems to have been missed (intentional or not) by the Flyers medical staff. This is when things started to get ugly. Eric went public with his criticism of the Flyers, and Clarke went public questioning Lindros’ desire and loyalty. It has been a long downhill, mudslinging trek from there.

Clarke was so certain that Lindros had lost any loyalty to the Flyers that the contract he offered him was a 2-way contract, not a 1 way contract that players of Eric’s caliber receive. Lindros was predictably insulted, and Clarke was right. My personal feeling is that Lindros (and his handlers) made a huge error in not signing that contract.

Clarke is most certainly in the drivers seat here. He has said that he is willing to let Lindros sit until he becomes an UFA (2 or 3 more years). However, I don’t think that the negotiations between the Leafs and Flyers last season, was conducted in good will. Of course the media played a huge part in that falling apart.

The 2 most unfortunate things in all of this are that it looks like Lindros is going to get what he wants (again), and that hockey fans have missed one of the bigger talents of the game for a wasted year.

14

Montfort, I totally disagree with you. The Flyers might have done OK without Lindros last year, but I still think they should be the one’s dealing from a weakness. Right now they have a potentially dominant player sitting and not doing anything for the team. So any deal would be worth more than Lindros is when he’s sitting.

I still don’t understand, the Rangers were supposed to be building with youth. If we wanted a center why not go after Roenick or Oates and keep the kids. I bet Allison would be easier to get out of Boston than this alleged trade for Lindros.

15

Please ohh puh-leeeze Eric, sign the papers and go to NY and stay the hell away from LA. I shudder to think what might tempt Dave Taylor to give away to Philly should talks open up with Clarke.

16

It’s all but finalized. It should be on Monday. Cool. :cool:

True. But, Clarke pulled a coup by holding out for the best deal for Lindros, and I think this one is better than the almost-done one with Toronto last season.

And, Lindros is highly variable. Part of me thinks he’s capable of being the best player in the world, something he was sooooo close to being in Philly. But, I know that he’s one hit away from retirement, so, he has to play with kid gloves on.

Date to note on calendar: 12 January. First visit by the Rangers to Philly. I can’t wait to hear the boos that night!

Assuming Lindros is still playing in January, that is.

(The Rangers host the Flyers on 14 November. Mr. Lindros, meet Mr. Tocchet.)

17

The Rangers host the Devils on October 17. Might be the first time I’ll root for Stevens in a Ranger game.

18

What a disappointment. I hate to tell you what I thought this thread was going to be about.

:: sigh ::

19

As a Leafs fan, I say good riddance to Lindros and his meddling family. Bobby Clarke and Pat Quinn were endlessly dicking around with a potential trade most of last season and now it’s the Rangers’ problem. Frankly, it seems to me that the Rangers Management has more money than brains recently.

Hodge

20

It’s official: He’s your problem now. :slight_smile: