SOAP OPERA ENDS IN PHILLY

The soap opera on Broad Street appears over.

Hockey’s version of “Days of Our Lives” seems more like the “Brady Bunch” as the post-Eric Lindros Era begins for the Philadelphia Flyers.

“We’re a team that won our conference, went to the conference finals and almost went to the Stanley Cup finals so I don’t feel we were dysfunctional,” said team chairman Ed Snider, who bristled when the Flyers were tagged with that label last spring. “There was one player who felt we were dysfunctional. If anybody asked the other players, nobody in our organization thought we were dysfunctional.”

After a long, bitter feud, Lindros -- the former captain and franchise player -- rejected the team’s $8.5 million qualifying offer and is a restricted free agent.

He’s recovering at home in Canada from his sixth concussion, and his friends say he doesn’t want to talk about hockey until he’s competely better. He hasn’t even returned messages from some of his former teammates.

“I made a few calls, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of him,” Keith Primeau said.

Though the divorce isn’t official -- Lindros was on the protected list for the waiver draft -- the Flyers are ready for life without the star center and the distractions that surrounded the team during his eight years in Philadelphia.

“With Eric, every little injury became bigger than what it was, bigger than the team,” general manager Bob Clarke said. “But now we just want to play hockey. We don’t need any of that stuff anymore.”

Lindros’ relationship with Clarke -- his childhood hero -- deteriorated to the point where he turned down a hefty salary without any guarantee that he’ll get a contract offer from another team.

“Too bad it had to end on a sour note,” said Mark Recchi, the team’s leading scorer last season.

The departure of Lindros isn’t the only reason there’s no more turmoil in Philadelphia.

Roger Neilson, the former Philadelphia coach and friend of Lindros, has recovered from cancer and will be an assistant with the Ottawa Senators this season.

Neilson, forced to leave the Flyers during last season for treatment, never got back the job he said he was promised would be waiting for him when he returned. He left after the Flyers appointed Craig Ramsay head coach.

The Flyers drew criticism for the way they handled the situation, but Clarke insisted Neilson’s doctors didn’t feel he was healthy enough to resume coaching.

“The perception of the public affected us because we don’t like hearing those things because it’s not true,” Snider said. “We have one of the best organizations in sports. We think we do an outstanding job.”

Despite all the drama, the subplots and twists, the Flyers got within one game of reaching the Stanley Cup finals before the New Jersey Devils rallied to win the best-of-seven series.

And they did it without Lindros, who missed the last 14 games of the regular season and all but the final two games of the playoffs.

“I didn’t care about the distractions last year. The players handled themselves like champions,” Ramsay said. “It doesn’t matter to me. I’m sure we’ll find more.”

One of those might be the contract status of John LeClair, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season. Another could be the pending trial of Kevin Stevens, the ex-New York Ranger who faces drug-possession charges in Illinois.

LeClair won the largest arbitration award in NHL history in August, getting a one-year deal for $7 million -- a substantial increase from his $3.96 million salary last season.

But the star left wing wanted a long-term contract before the start of training camp, and talks broke down after he declined a four-year deal worth well more than $7 million a season.

LeClair, who might end up on the trading block, won’t discuss his contract. But he’s eager to start his first season in Philadelphia without Lindros as a linemate.

“I played a lot of games last year without him so it’s not going to be that foreign to me,” said LeClair, who played on the top line with Primeau throughout training camp.

Stevens signed a one-year deal after spending two months undergoing drug rehab at a Connecticut facility. He and a prostitute were arrested in January at a motel after the Rangers played a game against the St. Louis Blues.

The former 50-goal scorer has friends among his new teammates.

“Kevin is a fantastic person. That’s not even an issue in this dressing room,” said Recchi, who played with Stevens in Pittsburgh. “He’s going to help the club. You talk to anyone who knows him, he’s a terrific person on and off the ice. He brings a lot to the team.”

But Stevens can’t possibly fill the void left by Lindros. While they won’t miss the off-ice distractions, the Flyers will miss having Lindros on the ice.

“We’d like Eric in the lineup,” goaltender Brian Boucher said. “He’s obviously one of the top three or four players in the league, maybe even higher than that. It makes our club better if he’s in here, but we learned to play without him last year.”

And they aren’t done with him just yet. Once Lindros decides he’s healthy enough to play, the Flyers will have to work out a trade for his rights.

“I wish it were 100 percent behind us,” Snider said. “We have to deal with it at some point. Once again, it’ll probably become bigger than life. It’s something we can’t control. Just like when we were playing so well in the playoffs, the big story was, ‘When is Lindros going to come back?’

“It was unfair to the team. In the final analysis, when you look at the end result, the team was doing extremely well, and the two games Lindros played, we lost both of them and they were crucial games.”