Was Eric Lindros the most dominating player ever?

[jmatchett]

To me, Osgood (apart from his 07/08 playoffs) was a good, quality goalie for a number of years who happened to play for some amazing teams, allowing him to stockpile wins since he played for a very long time (his stats in NYI and StL are good, but not HOF-esque). Of the 3, I'd say Vernon, then Lindros, then Osgood.

[policeradio556]

Osgood is in the same boat as Lindros and Mike Vernon.

They may all some day make it there, but who knows.

Policeradio: Why would you mention McSorley? That's a joke. The guys I listed all had 300-600 more points than Neely. Can they help if they were surrounded by Bums for half of their careers?

Part of me was joking with the McSorley comment...but part of me wasn't... The guy had 300+ points over his career... arguably a reason why Gretzky was able to dominate like he did... Imagine if he hadn't of spent 3300+ PIM's in a box...Gretzky's career might not have been as illustrious (guys would've taken runs at him etc) but his offensive numbers could've arguably been better and more comparable to that of some of the bigger names in defenseman... when you think about logistics of sports its no different then an offensive lineman in the HOF for his great ability in protecting the QB or allowing space for a RB... Star players and dazzling skill guys are huge draws for the sport... why not reward those guys who are held responsible for keeping them protected too...

[jpwcards866]

There are people out there who would. I saw people seriously argue that Kris Draper should have been considered since he was a great 3rd/4th line guy for so long. Same with Osgood, although there can at least be an argument there due to his longevity and amount of wins. But I understand people who do and don't want Lindros in the HOF, both have very good cases. The biggest argument against him were his health issues that coupled into his late career production dropoffs. If nothing else, he's at least worthy of debate for it.

ppl who say draper should be in the HOF should be shot. ive witnessed his whole career under my eyes and he played a good role, thats it- great skater and his experience and rubbing elbows with stevie y, fedorov, shanny and everyone can only help. darren helm (when healthy) is 2x as good as draper- should i start saving my helm rookies? hahaha

[jsokol1626]

I am the original poster. I thought I made it clear in my original post that he did more than fight when I said:
"He was bigger and stronger that every other player. Guys would line him up and he'd be like a brick wall and they'd go down."
"He had an unbelievably quick release, was a top-notch passer, and could pick a corner as good as anyone not named Bossy. When he left Philadelphia, I think only Gretzky and Lemieux had higher PPG marks."

I think you misunderstood because I failed to quote the post that generated my comment. I agree Lindros was much more than a fighter. I had fourth row season tickets when he came into the league and he certainly was an imposing presence on the ice. My comments were directed toward the posts that focused more on the fighters, especially those in Philly. The real shame of Lindros' career is that he was encouraged to hit people and mix it up on the ice, his knees and then later his brain couldn't take the kind of punishment they got in return for his goonish style. So his skills diminished at a time when he should have been in his prime.