Philly Front Office

The biggest name in the 1992 NHL Draft was not in the 1992 NHL Draft at all. Roman Hamrlik went 1st to the Lightning and the Senators picked up Alexei Yashin next, but the real prize was the #1 pick from 1991 who didn’t sign with the Quebec Nordiques, Eric Lindros.

Quebec at the time was a poorly run franchise with a crappy owner (Marcel Aubut) and had the #1 pick for the 3rd consecutive year. Lindros made it clear before the draft that if Quebec drafted him, he would refuse to sign. Not only did he think the team was in bad shape and that Quebec was a bad place for business, but he simply did not trust the owner. Considering Lindros was maybe the best prospect since Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, this was a big deal. Would Quebec trade the pick? Would they just draft him anyway and try to work it out? They chose the latter.

Lindros was a man of his word and stayed in Juniors for another season. That year, Quebec tried to entice him with money, reportedly offering a 10/$50m contract at one point, but to no avail. They simply had to trade him. A bidding war opened with many teams trying desperately to mortgage their future for the next face of hockey. this included the Detroit Red Wings who were rumored to be offering Steve Yzerman. Yzerman scuttled that by publicly declaring that, like Lindros, he would refuse to report to Quebec.

Flyers Big Game Hunting

On the day of the 1992 Draft, June 20, 1992, the suitors were down to two, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers. Early that day, Quebec verbally agreed to a package that sent Lindros to Philadelphia subject to Lindros agreeing to play for the team. The Flyers got on the phone with Lindros, he said they were good to go, and it was assumed they had their man in exchange for Rod Brind’Amour, Steve Duchesne, Ron Hextall, Mark Recchi, Mike Ricci, Dominic Roussel, multiple first round picks, and $15 million. Except, they still didn’t have an official deal.

Unbeknownst to the Flyers, Quebec’s owner (you know, the one Lindros didn’t trust) was still working the phones trying to get a better deal. 80 minutes after he told the Flyers they had a deal, he told the Rangers the same thing! The deal with New York included Tony Amonte, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov, James Patrick, one of their two star goalies (John Vanbiesbrouck or Mike Richter), multiple first round picks, and $20 million. Officially, Lindros was headed to New York.

Not so fast. The Flyers believed their verbal agreement still counted as an official trade and filed a formal complaint with the NHL which would go to almost immediate arbitration. After 5 days of testimony and document review, the arbitrator had a verdict which was read live on the radio in Philadelphia on June 30th. The arbitrator found that the original trade with the Flyers was enforceable thanks to the phone call between the Flyers and Lindros that consummated the agreement. Lindros was going to Philadelphia after all.

There was now a problem though, because the draft had gone on, some of the players and picks were no longer available. A revised trade ended up swapping out Brind’Amour and Recchi while adding Chris Simon, Kerry Huffman, and (damnit) Peter Forsberg. Quebec would also receive first round picks from the Flyers in 1993 and 1994.

April 10, 2007: The Day That Ruined the Flyers

The ways this trade changed the league are far reaching. Despite the infusion of talent and cash, Quebec was simply not sustainable as a viable NHL market anymore. In 1995, the team was sold and moved to Denver, rebranding as the Avalanche. Peter Forsberg became a dominant force in the league first winning the Calder Trophy as the top rookie then eventually the Hart as MVP. Colorado would use the 1993 pick they received from the Flyers to select goalie Jocelyn Thibault, who they eventually traded for Patrick Roy, maybe the best goaltender of all time. The Avalanche would go on to win Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001.

The Rangers lucked out by not making the deal at all. Instead of Lindros, they ended up keeping Alexei Kovalev and Mike Richter who led them to a Stanley Cup win in 1994.

As for the Flyers, it was a mixed bag. Lindros was supposed to bring multiple Stanley Cups, but was too regularly injured to truly fulfill the promise of his talent. While he won the Hart trophy in 1995 and finished 3rd in 1996, the closest he and the Flyers got to a Stanley Cup was in 1997 when the Flyers were swept by the Red Wings and another guy he was almost traded for, Steve Yzerman. He received a career altering hit from Devel’s shitbag Scott Stevens in 2000 and was never the same. In 2001, after sitting out an entire season refusing to play for the Flyers, they traded him to the Rangers of all teams. Can you believe it?

Stats: Hockey Reference

Photo: S Levy/Getty Images