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Monday, February 19, 2001
Reports: Flyers close to trading Lindros
ESPN.com news services
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TORONTO – Eric Lindros' lawyer thinks his client will soon be traded from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"I'm optimistic that something should get done within the next
little while," Gord Kirke said Monday. "We aren't kept fully
abreast to any extent by either of the teams as to their trade
discussions."
Several reports said the deal involved either young defensemen
Danny Markov or Tomas Kaberle and center Nik Antropov plus a
first- or second-round draft choice.
"I think there's an urgency imposed by the (March 13) trade
deadline," Kirke said, "and by the fact that if Eric goes with a
team like the Leafs, it will require some time for him to skate
with the team and work out with the team before he can get into any
games. And the season is winding down."
Leaf owner Steve Stavro also wants the Lindros saga resolved.
"It's interfering with the whole operation," he was quoted as
saying by the Toronto Star. "So, one way or the other, it has got
to be resolved because it is hurting everything."
One cause for delay could be the fact that younger brother Brett
Lindros was injured in a snowmobile accident Sunday.
The deal has been complicated because Lindros wants to play only
for the Maple Leafs, his hometown team. Lindros and Flyers GM Bob
Clarke have not spoken in eight months.
Lindros, 28, became a restricted free agent last summer when he
rejected an $8.5 million qualifying offer from Philadelphia.
The younger Lindros was listed in fair condition in a Toronto hospital after the snowmobile he was riding on crashed into a rocky shoreline in cottage country near Parry Sound, Ontario. The driver of the snowmobile was also seriously injured. The Lindros family suddenly had more important things to think about than hockey.
According to sources in the Star, the trade, almost seven months in the making, apparently hinges on two elements.
First, there must be an agreement from the Leafs' board of governors to make the move because it is expected the financial commitment to Lindros from Toronto could be in the neighborhood of $45 million U.S. over five years.
The second element, one source said, is that the Flyers want assurances that Markov will make a full recovery from a back injury. Markov was scratched for the seventh consecutive game on Saturday night.
The Sports Network reported the deal would be Markov, Antropov and a first-round draft choice for Lindros.
All that remains to be done, according to TSN, before completing the deal is the negotiation of a new contract for Lindros with the Leafs. It is believed the deal could be reached as early as Monday and no later than Tuesday.
Maple Leafs players say they just want the Lindros situation to be settled one way or another.
"In my six years here, this is the biggest distraction," said
Dmitri Yushkevich
, the Leafs defenseman. "It's very difficult to handle
the situation. We just wish something would happen so we can just
play the game and do our stuff and make the playoffs."
As the rumors have intensified, the Leafs have fallen from first
place in the NHL's Eastern Conference to seventh.
"The guys are professionals but it's in the back of everybody's
mind," defenseman Dave Manson said.
Captain Mats Sundin, goaltender Curtis Joseph, and forward
Sergei Berezin, another player whose name has repeatedly surfaced
in trade rumors, all gave the morning skate a pass and avoided a
repetition of questions about Lindros.
"It's like a circus," Yushkevich said. "It's distracting the
players. We are like a toy everybody is pulling back and forth."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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