The Hit That Literally Ruined A Man's Career

#nhl #hockey #torontomapleleafs #montrealcanadiens

Eric Lindros was one of NHL hockey's greatest power forwards. However, one hit would change absolutely everything.

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#philadelphiaflyers

[gordonmacdowell]

He almost certainly had more concussions than the official injury record. Opposing players would launch at him from the other side of the ice on a regular basis to try to take him out and usually bounce off, but those kinds of jarring hits can give concussions too. He probably played so many stretches of games concussed that it became the new normal for him.

[JFK]

I liked Theo fleurys explanation that the reason why lindros never skated with his head up was because he grew up being the biggest and strongest person on the ice until he got into the NHL, so he's never had to keep his head on a swivel

[the_eaglefan]

I still say that he developed that habit as he grew up in hocky. Being the biggest and best at lower levels meant that he wasn't risking as much as the smaller players would bounce off him at those levels. Then when he got to the NHL where he was now playing against players who were closer in ability and size it became a risk but by then he had already fully developed the habit of not being afraid to have his head down that much. Just a hypothesis at least.

[GP-ttte]

I lived in Philly during the Lindros era. The organization and its medical staff completely ruined this man. Those people were totally incompetent.

[OJPulp]

crazy how if concussions didn't play such a big role in many players careers that some of them could still be playing or just recently be retiring

[hejdingamleraev]

As is mentioned in the video, when you play as hard as Lindros was doing, opposing teams will not be easy on you. It was also an era when hockey was as much about dominating physically as puck control.

[catherinesanchez]

I was watching a lot of hockey during this time period. given what we know about concussions now, it's like they did everything WRONG . The worst thing is that it's not over. Concussions, especially repeated ones can have serious life long consequences especially when you get older with dementia etc . I hope he's going to be okay, even though I was obligated to hate him at the time (Penguins fan)

[funjunk]

The craziest thing is he did that scoring pace during the dead puck era.

[bobg]

Crazy how they use to say a player “had his bell rung” and would often send him back in after a brief rest. Concussions often have lifetime consequences. Glad professional sports have finally understood how serious they can be.

[sydisticsandman]

There's always someone bigger, or at least as big. ALWAYS skate with your head up. Lindros story reminds me of Forsberg in that they both coulda played so much longer if not for the injuries. mad respect to both the.

[frankferraro]

As a native Flyers fan, I’m a huge Lindros fan and is by far, my favorite player. I wish nothing but the best for Eric and his family. Miss you wearing black and orange!

[-BUGZ-]

As a Red Wings fan who watched them in the mid to late 90s to now, we definitely feared Lindros and respected the hell out of him even though we didn’t like Philly too much. Love ya Philly 🧹

[acadmus]

Lindros and Kariya weren’t the only ones. Pat Lafontaine was being described as the greatest American born player in NHL history when concussions took him out of the game in the early to mid 90s. The Panthers had a gem of a player in David Booth in the early 20-teens whose fearless and hard working play made him a perennial 20-30 goal scorer until an open ice blindside hit to the head by Mike Richards (who never even got suspended for it as I recall) ended one season early and he was never able to return to form after. For two decades the league turned a blind eye to these dirty hits that were taking out their star players while mystifyingly cracking down on enforcers (the guys whose job it was to make other teams not want to play dirty because they’d become targets) and then complaining about scoring being down.

[MmaFan]

That goal from Kariya after the Stevens hit is ICONIC! Kariya and Lindros were 2 of my favorite NON Red Wings players.

[Willl_b_]

i was a kid and watched every game that season. when lindros finally came back i was so excited. and when he got taken out by stevens, i was heartbroken! i remember that game so well.

[romangagne]

The biggest explanation for why Lindros had the habit of skating with his head down mostly comes from him being bigger than most of the others in the OHL that they usually just bounced off him.

[christopherwood]

As a former football and hockey player, I am going to go out on a limb and say those were not his first concussions. Any time your head hits the ice, glass, other helmets, and/or fists, that is a tiny concussion that builds into serious, long term, brain injuries.

[austinwhite]

Absolutely mind boggling watching this in 2024. Can’t wrap my head around the way concussions and head trauma were so mystified back then. You would think that throughout our years as humans we would’ve put tons of research into the ways repeated head impacts can contribute to our overall decline in health and long-term disability. Glad that we are more up to speed now, but incredibly interesting to learn that less than 25 years ago we barely had a handle on what the ramifications of a concussion could be.

[Brocuzgodlocdunfamdogson]

I went to a stick handling camp a few times as a kid. One of the biggest things they stressed was *don’t skate with your head down* . A puck on the toe of the stick feels completely different than when it’s on the heel. They tried teaching us to know where the puck was by feel, not sight.

Even with this training, I’d still catch myself with my head down on occasion. It’s a tough habit to break, kids should learn to skate heads up as soon as possible.

[amazingronaldo]

I remember watching that game. I thought he was done after that and he was, though I didn't think he would linger so long trying to play. He just had a bad habit of keeping his head down, and against a D like Stevens who loved to come laterally across his zone just inside the blue line, it was just a recipe for disaster!! Stevens was a devastating checker!! You didn't want to be head down with him prowling that blue line!