Lindros: Refusal to play for Nordiques 'was about an owner,' not a city

Former No. 1 overall pick Eric Lindros was finally announced as a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Monday, and the 43-year-old took time with reporters to discuss a controversial part of his past - his refusal to play for the team that drafted him in 1991, the Quebec Nordiques.

"It was not about a city, it was about an owner," Lindros said, according to Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports.

The former owner he is referring to is Marcel Aubut - who recently resigned as president of the Canadian Olympic Committee as a result of a sexual harassment scandal.

After Lindros refused to play for the Nordiques, he spent another year with the OHL's Oshawa Generals and represented Canada at the 1992 Winter Olympics, where he recorded 11 points on the silver medal-winning squad.

The following year he was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Peter Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, a first-round pick and $15 million.

While Lindros never won a Stanley Cup, Forsberg, and Ricci were among the Nordiques who relocated to Colorado and won a Stanley Cup in 1996. Forsberg would win a second championship with the Avalanche five years later.