Club Will Inquire About Lindros

The Kings are still interested in center Eric Lindros, but there has been no contact between the two sides since Lindros was cleared Monday to resume playing hockey by Dr. James Kelly.

“We will inquire,” Dave Taylor, the Kings’ senior vice president and general manager, said on Tuesday. “We will speak to his representative, or he can call us.”

Lindros, whose rights are still owned by the Philadelphia Flyers, has been out since suffering his sixth concussion in the Flyers’ Eastern Conference semifinal series with New Jersey. He has turned down an $8.5-million contract offer from Philadelphia, which tendered it to retain his rights as a Group II--or restricted--free agent.

At the entry draft in June, the Kings, New York Rangers and Toronto were given permission by the Flyers to speak with Lindros, and Taylor did so.

“He wasn’t going to do anything until he was cleared to play,” Taylor said. “We respected that.”

At the time, medical clearance wasn’t guaranteed. Since then, Lindros has been skating in Toronto and taking physical examinations in anticipation of returning to the NHL. He said Tuesday he would like to play for his hometown Maple Leafs, though Bobby Clarke, the Flyer general manager, would like to send him as far from Philadelphia as possible.

The Rangers would like to keep Lindros close by, and Dallas is believed to be interested.

Since Lindros rejected the Flyer qualifying offer, Clarke has alternately sought to bring him back to the team, then said he wasn’t welcome. Clarke’s primary problem has been with Lindros’ father, Carl, who is also his son’s agent.

The likelihood of Lindros’ coming to the Kings is slight, Clarke’s desire for geographical separation notwithstanding.

“We’re interested in doing anything we can to improve our club,” Taylor said, “but there would have to be some shared risk.”

The Kings would be unwilling to commit a large number of draft choices or active players in a trade for Lindros, and an $8.5-million salary is probably out of the question, given the King budget restrictions.

Any team that gets Lindros would probably have to forge a deal with Clarke that would depend on the number of games Lindros is able to play.

Still, the idea is intriguing.

“When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best players in the game,” Taylor said.

But don’t look for him in the lineup Saturday night against Minnesota.