Bosc wrote:
This is aside to PLD. I think there were a few reasons that Lindros cited but I think what it boiled down to was him really just wanted nothing to do with the Nordiques owners. And from what I understand of Quebec's ownershup, who could blame him? Obviously it sucked for Nords fans. But I've kind of come around on what Big E did because of what we have seen and see with horrible ownership, management and teams just completely unwilling to pay for talent and just suck teams dry for as many pennies as possible. And we've seen throughout the years, including with Lindros himself, of bad ownership/management/coaching giving little to no fucks about the health and well-being of players. More players need to look out more for themselves.
I wanted McDavid to to to Europe so Edmonton would either have to deal him or lose his rights when he re-entered the draft, but I was probably more likely to win the lottery than that happening.
I'm all for players advocating for themselves--after all if John Elway hadn't spurned the Baltimore Colts back in 1983 the Denver sports scene would look wildly different than it does now (yes, I think it would've affected the existence of the Avalanche as well). But the pervading narrative, one furthered even by Lindros himself, is that his parents wanted a bigger stage for their son. Lindros, in interviews later on in his career, expressed regret that he allowed his parents to speak for him as much as they did. I'm sure there's truth to the Nords being badly run--again, the tale of the Avalanche would've unfolded quite differently if they had been--but, geez, why didn't the Lindros family lead with that, then?
But yeah, I think we were all hoping McDavid would've followed up his visible disappointment at the draft lottery show by saying "Aw, HELL no."