THE NHL / STEVE SPRINGER : Drafting Lindros Might Make Losing a Winning Proposition

For years, Wayne Gretzky has been “the Great One.”

But now, a new presence looms on the NHL horizon, “the Next One.”

That was generally assumed to be Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But a chronic back problem has put his future in doubt.

So the title has passed to a 17-year-old who has yet to put a skate blade on NHL ice.

No matter.

The mere mention of Eric Lindros causes owners, general managers and coaches to salivate, visions of Stanley Cups dancing in their heads.

Lindros is playing for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League. Through 26 games, he had 29 goals and 58 points. He is considered so good, strong and tough that, in the minds of many, it is assumed he will some day dominate the NHL and perhaps even threaten some of Gretzky’s records.

As it is, Lindros is already a factor in the league this season.

The NHL has two battles going this year. There’s the usual race at the top for the Stanley Cup. And there’s a rather unusual struggle at the bottom for what might be called the Lindros Cup.

Whoever finishes last in the NHL picks first in the postseason draft.

Because Lindros is eligible, that pick is of incalculable value.

Of course, no team wants to finish last. But if the prize is a young player who can guarantee many future finishes at the top . . . The main contenders in the Lindros Sweepstakes are the Quebec Nordiques, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota North Stars, with the Edmonton Oilers given an outside shot, should they sink even lower than they already have.

Because Edmonton doesn’t figure to do that and Toronto’s top pick is owed to the New Jersey Devils, Quebec appears to be the favorite, with Minnesota a poor second.

But suppose it comes down to season’s end. Suppose the final few games determine which team winds up on the bottom.

Would a forward with a shot at a winning goal fan on purpose? Would a goalie step aside and let a puck in?

It’s a real fear around the league. So real that the New York Rangers introduced a proposal at the September meeting of the board of governors to set up a lottery similar to the one employed by the NBA.

That way, a number of clubs--the five non-playoff teams in this case--would have equal chances of getting the top pick.

That proposal, however, was defeated.

“I was against it because they only wanted it for the one year,” said Bruce McNall, owner of the Kings. “If you’re going to do it, make it a constant thing. Don’t make it a one-year event.

“We would need time to study something like this. It deserves some time. If you know there’s going to be a lottery, your strategy might be different, as far as trades and draft picks are concerned. A lottery might be something for some time in the future.”

But what about the immediate future? What about the possibility of teams deliberately losing?

“I don’t think it would happen,” McNall said. “Put it this way: I hope it wouldn’t happen. That’s not a legitimate concern. Not in this day and age.”

Cliff Fletcher, general manager of the Calgary Flames, agrees.

“There’s a lot of speculation about teams going into the tank, but it’s never happened before,” he told the Calgary Herald. “As a matter of fact, New Jersey won its final game (in 1981) not to get Mario Lemieux.”

Still, the suspicion is there. When the Nordiques traded defenseman Michel Petit and two other veterans to the Maple Leafs for Scott Pearson, a 20-year-old wing, and two draft choices, Petit blasted the deal.

“Well, I guess they’ve just done the right thing to make sure they get Eric Lindros,” he said.

Quebec officials, however, insist that the trade was merely part of a master plan to build with younger players.

But a lottery might eliminate the linchpin of that strategy.

Fletcher said: “My theory (in voting against it) was based on this: If you get a team like Pittsburgh, who got 72 points last year and already has a Mario Lemieux, and it’s an Eric Lindros year and they win the lottery, well, that’s not what you’re trying to accomplish with the draft. . . . The idea of the entry draft is to get franchise players onto clubs that really need them.”

Lindros aside, however, the NHL would be well advised to consider a lottery if it follows its plan to expand by seven teams in this decade.

With all of the expansion teams figuring to struggle, a lottery would add excitement and interest to an ever-growing group of non-playoff teams and spread around the opportunities for growth.

McNall said: “I would like to see, perhaps, some system where the team with the lowest number of points had maybe seven chances at the top pick, the second-worst six chances and so on.”

The NBA has turned to a weighted system for purposes of fairness after originally going with a straight lottery.

But the NHL will stick with its current system for Lindros.

And may the worst team win.

Name games: Calgary center Doug Gilmour says he is tired of hearing the constant rumors that he is about to be traded to Toronto for left wing Wendel Clark.

So imagine how Gilmour felt when he walked into the Flames’ clubhouse recently and discovered the handiwork of an inventive prankster.

Somebody had redone the name plate above his locker stall to read Wendel Gilmour .