Big E earned a Hall call Eric Lindros is a Hall of Famer. No question about it. The question is, will he be made to pay the price for being a controversial figure during his too short, but nonetheless illustrious career? Will he be held out of the Hall when the latest additions are announced next week -- the first time he is eligible to be inducted -- only to be inducted down the road? With 372 goals and 865 points in 760 career games, Lindros's numbers speak for themselves. He added another 24 goals and 57 points in 53 playoff games. You don't average better than a point per game in the regular season and in the playoffs if you aren't a dominant player. And Eric Lindros certainly was dominant. Not only that, he was also one of the most physically imposing - intimidating! - players to ever skate in the NHL. At six-foot-four and 230 pounds (probably heavier), Lindros could strike fear in the hearts of opponents. If he was in a particularly nasty mood, he could scare the daylights out of the meeker players in the NHL. For a period during his 13-year career, Lindros was the best player on the planet. However, he was injury prone and by the end of his career, when he played with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Dallas Stars, he was a shadow of his former self; basically a role player. It was his passion for playing hockey that kept him coming back for more when others would have quietly ridden off into the sunset. Unfortunately, there will be some who remember his final few seasons, when, in truth, it is his prime years when he ruled the league that should be his ticket into the Hall. That's not all. Some may hold it against him that he refused to report to the Quebec Nordiques - even though he warned them not to select him. It didn't help matters that he also refused to play for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, who drafted him to play in the Ontario Hockey League. His refusal to play in The Soo and Quebec made many view him as a spoiled brat. There were also run-ins with management in Philadelphia, as well as interfering parents that put people off. For me, none of that matters. All that counts is what he accomplished and there is plenty to consider. As a junior player, he helped the Oshawa Generals capture the Memorial Cup in 1990. He was the top scorer and most valuable player in the OHL and also the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League's player of the year. He won two gold medals at the world junior championship, a Canada Cup championship, as well as gold (2002) and silver (1992) medals at the Olympics. There are players already inducted into the Hall of Fame with fewer credentials, to be sure. The one thing he didn't win, of course, was the Stanley Cup, although he took the Flyers to the final in 1996-97 only to lose to the Detroit Red Wings. If you look up Lindros on Wikipedia.org, there is a quote from Bobby Clarke, Lindros's old nemesis, about whether or not The Big E should be in the Hall of Fame. It reads: "Yes, based on his ability to play the game and based on his contributions as a player, I think you have to separate all the crap that went on. Particularly when he played for the Flyers, it was outstanding dominant hockey - the first of the huge, big men with small man's skills." Couldn't have said it better myself. Here's hoping the people charged with making the decision about who gets into the Hockey Hall of Fame are able to put all the nonsense aside and remember what is most important: Eric Lindros was an amazing hockey player; one of the best ever. He deserves to be honoured as such.