Kings Eye Lindros’ Situation

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.

Lindros, 27, will be one of several people Taylor has to talk with about acquiring the Flyers’ perennial all-star center.

There are doctors, because Lindros has had six concussions over the past two seasons, three of them last season. The most recent was on May 26, during the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals against New Jersey.

Carl Lindros, Eric’s father and agent, was unavailable Sunday.

He told Philadelphia reporters Wednesday that his son continues to experience concussion symptoms. Eric recently told reporters a doctor has advised him to take a season off.

Bob Clarke, the Philadelphia general manager, said earlier in the week that Lindros has been examined by Flyer doctors, who “feel he’ll be fine to play.”

Relations between Clarke and Carl Lindros have not been so fine, at least the way Clarke sees it.

“Everybody’s scared of the family, but there’s nothing we can do about that,” said Clarke on Thursday. On Sunday, he added: “I talked with Eric today, and he didn’t feel the problems could be resolved.”

And there is the calendar.

By Saturday, the Flyers must offer Lindros at least the $8.5 million he earned in playing 55 games, scoring 27 goals and adding 32 assists last season. Unless he receives a qualifying offer, he will be an unrestricted free agent.

If Lindros signs a Flyer offer, Philadelphia is on the hook for $8.5 million, even if it’s determined Lindros isn’t sound enough medically to play.

It’s the sort of situation the Flyers would prefer to send elsewhere.

But the price could be high, presumably draft choices, their numbers affected by Lindros’ physical soundness.

So far, though, the price is negligible. It costs the Kings only long-distance toll money to find out if a deal is worth making.

Or if the risk is greater than the reward.

Around the NHL

Using a fourth-round pick they acquired from Ottawa for a pair of fifth-round picks, the Kings chose 23-year-old defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky in the entry draft. Visnovsky had 21 goals and 45 points for Bratislava of the Slovakian Elite League last season. His size was a question--he’s 5-10 and 180 pounds--but General Manager Dave Taylor sees some pluses.

The Ducks chose Swedish forward Jonas Ronnqvist, 26, in the fourth round. He played center and both wings the past three seasons in the Swedish Elite League and is expected to be at the Ducks’ training camp in September, with an outside shot to make the team. The Ducks traded sixth- and seventh-round picks to Toronto for the rights to 22-year-old Swedish right wing Jonathan Hedstrom, who was chosen 221st by the Maple Leafs in the 1997 draft.

Scotty Bowman agreed to a one-year contract to return to the Detroit Red Wings. . . . The New York Islanders acquired goalie John Vanbiesbrouck from the Flyers for a fourth-round pick in the 2001 draft. He will back up Rick DiPietro, chosen first overall by the Islanders.

*

Staff writers Helene Elliott and Elliott Teaford contributed to this report.