Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Team

A complicated tale of three teams and two countries, the Eric Lindros case was resolved Tuesday when arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi ruled that the Philadelphia Flyers had the rights to the 19-year-old center from Canada. At issue was whether the Flyers or the New York Rangers had secured the services of Lindros, the most promising player in hockey, from the Quebec Nordiques on June 20.

Chris Pronger was born 35 years ago today, a few months after the Philadelphia Flyers won the first of two straight Stanley Cup championships. They haven't won the Cup since. Acquiring Pronger, a versatile, minute-gobbling defenseman with a mean streak as deep as he is tall, could go a long way toward ending that drought. Pronger was a vital part of the Ducks' 2007 Cup team, but his contract was due to expire after this season and they didn't want to be shackled with a long extension.

Philadelphia Flyer center Eric Lindros will sit out the remainder of the regular season because of a collapsed right lung, the team announced Friday. Lindros apparently was hurt when cross-checked during the Flyers' game at Nashville on Thursday, team President and General Manager Bob Clarke said. Television replays also showed Lindros falling on his stick in the first period.

The Ducks became the first team since the 1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers to lead the league in penalty minutes in the regular season, then go on to win the Stanley Cup. 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks REGULAR-SEASON RECORD 48-20-14 (overtimes) PENALTY MINUTES 1,457 PLAYOFF RESULTS def. Calgary, 4-1 def. Minnesota, 4-1 def. Detroit, 4-2 STANLEY CUP FINALS def. Ottawa, 4-1 * The Ducks love their reputation for being rugged, and sometimes they deserve it.

French fashion took a new turn here Tuesday night. Real men, more or less adults, were wearing diapers on top of their heads. Another brave soul was sporting a diaper in the usual place with nothing else on. Unless you count his pacifier or bonnet. Eric Lindros, a 19-year-old center, has caused many people to do many strange things, long before the passionate Quebec Nordique fans decided to greet his first NHL game here by mocking him as a "Bebe," for refusing to play for their team.

Sometime around 2 a.m. Wednesday, Paul Coffey stood in the middle of the ice in empty Civic Arena in Pittsburgh and said goodby. To his late coach, Bob Johnson, to his teammates and fans, and to five years as a Penguin player. Eighteen hours later, Coffey stood on the crowded ice at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton and said hello. To the Kings, to teammates old and new. In 18 hours, Coffey's life had turned around.

There were not enough brooms in Detroit to sweep away memories of the Red Wings' 42 years of futility, of the lean years when they struggled for credibility or--more recently--when they reached the brink of success but lacked the character to take that final step.

Ron Hextall, the colorful and controversial goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers, subscribes to the theory that it's better to burn out than it is to rust. "I'd rather have 10 great years than 15 good years," he has said. "I'll go all out the next few years and if I burn out, then I'll burn out. That's our whole team. That's the way we are."

He always played for someone else, to please others. From his childhood, Eric Lindros' future was mapped out: He would be the new breed of NHL player, the brawny center who would follow the subtly magical Wayne Gretzky as the league's standard-bearer. The Flyers gutted their team to acquire him from Quebec in 1992, and before he had set foot in an NHL rink, he was dubbed "the Next One," a play on Gretzky's nickname "the Great One."

The Vancouver Canucks acquired center Peter Zezel from the New Jersey Devils and sent forward Mike Sillinger to Philadelphia in separate deals on Thursday. In exchange for Zezel, who has spent most of this season with New Jersey's American Hockey League team in Albany, where he had 13 goals and 37 assists in 35 games, the Canucks sent the Devils a fifth-round pick in the 1998 draft.

Forget the Broad Street Bullies, the Broad Street Follies have come to town. One day the Philadelphia Flyers are the worst team in the NHL, the next they are giving lessons in humility to the Ducks, the top team in the league. This, obviously, is not the act that Peter Forsberg signed on to headline. But it's the one he has been cast in as leading man.

The Philadelphia Flyers became the first team to go to work under the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement by buying out forwards John LeClair and Tony Amonte on Saturday. Teams have until Friday to buy out existing contracts at two-thirds the value without those totals counting against the salary cap. Players who are bought out cannot re-sign with those teams. LeClair has been one of the NHL's top power forwards, but the Flyers decided that $6.

Tampa Bay Lightning players made a promise to themselves for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Philadelphia Flyers: Play to win, instead of not to lose. "No matter what happens, we have to do what we do and do it in an aggressive manner and see where we are at the end of the day," Lightning Coach John Tortorella said Friday. "That word desperation is always thrown around.

The Kings' slim hopes of landing Eric Lindros ended Friday when the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers finalized a trade that will send the one-time NHL most valuable player to the Rangers. TSN in Canada reported that the deal received league approval late Friday night. Bob Clarke, the Flyers' general manager, lifted the Friday deadline for the Rangers to sign Lindros, clearing the way for Lindros and the Rangers to work out a contract and other details.

No. 4 PHILADELPHIA vs. No. 5 BUFFALO Best of seven Wednesday at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Saturday at Philadelphia, 10 a.m. Monday at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Buffalo, 4 p.m. April 19 *at Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m. April 21 *at Buffalo, noon April 23 *at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. * if necessary; all times Pacific THE BREAKDOWN * Team records: Philadelphia 43-25-11-3, Buffalo 46-30-5-1. * Season series: Philadelphia 4-0-0. * Coaches: PHI: Bill Barber, 0-0 (.000) in playoffs. BUF: Lindy Ruff, 25-16 (.

Philadelphia Flyer General Manager Bob Clarke didn't do Eric Lindros any favors Tuesday. Lindros remained the property of the Flyers, an unsigned restricted free agent with a history of concussions who won't play again in the NHL until next season at the earliest. The league's trading deadline passed at noon PST Tuesday without Clarke making a deal with either the St. Louis Blues or Toronto Maple Leafs.

It began during training camp, with a lethargic feeling and a cough he couldn't shake. While visiting Anaheim and Los Angeles in November, Flyer Coach Roger Neilson made light of his obvious fatigue and insisted a few days in the sun would restore his energy and make everything right again. If only it were that simple. If only sunshine and relaxation could cure the multiple myeloma--bone marrow cancer--that has attacked his body. "For two months I was kind of under the weather.

The coach feels unwanted and the former captain and franchise player isn't wanted. Yet the Philadelphia Flyers advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs. With more turmoil than a soap opera and enough twists to fill a pro wrestling script, the Flyers overcame a 15-point deficit to capture the top seed in the Eastern Conference, then eliminated the Buffalo Sabres in five games in the opening round. They did it without center Eric Lindros and Coach Roger Neilson.

The easy part was getting permission from the Flyers to talk with Eric Lindros about leaving Philadelphia. That the Kings have done, as have the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, all of whom meet the criterion of being wealthy enough to afford Lindros' $8.5-million contract. "We have Eric's number," Dave Taylor, the Kings' senior vice president and general manager, said Sunday. "I haven't spoken with him yet." Now it becomes complicated.

The Philadelphia Flyers set up Eric Lindros to fail. They already hadripped the captain's "C" off his uniform and air-brushed it out of his picture on their playoff media guide, so all that remained was to throw him to the wolves Wednesday and grin behind their hands when he embarrassed himself.