Paul Holmgren gave me a shout about a month and a half ago and we talked back and forth a little bit, and I was real happy to hear his voice and get the invitation. I told him a while back that I would fly down and have some fun.
I hadn't seen Johnny in a while. I know they're trying to get in touch with Mikael. I've been trying myself, if for some reason you're listening. I think you might be sleeping.
That's Eric Lindros, speaking this morning on FAN590 in Toronto. Asked about his participation in the Winter Classic Alumni Game, Lindros confirmed once again that he'll be playing in the Winter Classic alumni game. Justin Johnson of The Hockey Writers broke the story wide open last week.
As for a complete Legion of Doom reunion, the only missing link seems to be Mikael Renberg, who is somewhere in the darkness of Europe apparently. Time to start a search party. (Seriously, though, according to Bill Meltzer, Renberg has shown interest as well. Let's hope he gets here, because I have an old Legion of Doom shirt I wanna wear.)
The biggest part of this is that Lindros will be back though, obviously. We all know about the wounds between him and the organization, and they started to heal a bit back in 2008 when the Flyers invited all team captains back to the Spectrum for a final time. Lindros couldn't make it to that event, but he did send a heartfelt video that was shown on the video board.
And this morning, from that same FAN590 interview:
I had a lot of great memories in Philadelphia. Some good teams. Teams I thought were very close. I enjoyed it there. That's where I, in a sense, grew up in professional hockey. They're a very passionate group around Philadelphia, they know the game and they want results. It's a great set up.
The wounds are still there. There are still people in this town that can't stand Eric Lindros, for whatever reason that may be. But for most of us, we're over it. Lindros was one of the most important players in franchise history, and hell, in my mind he belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame for what he did with the Flyers.
The Winter Classic is the perfect time for us to thank him for what he did for us, because we've never really had that opportunity until now.
UPDATE: I hate throwing this as a footnote at the bottom, because it's the definition of awesome, but in a story by Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com, Paul Holmgren said that Bob Clarke, Reggie Leach and Bill Barber will reunite as well. This is as pornographic as Flyers hockey will ever get.