For once, Eric Lindros wasn't the center of attention. I saw the 6'4" giant standing by himself, as reporters chased Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, and the other 60+ living legends that the NHL has gathered in Los Angeles for their NHL100 unveiling.
That's how much talent the NHL had amassed in one place -- reporters, at first glance, were ignoring perhaps the most fearsome forward of the 1990s.
Getting to be on this stage with all these exceptional players made the trip to LA worth it already pic.twitter.com/GHKZoxFDYf
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 28, 2017
As for myself, I worked on grabbing former Kings like Marcel Dionne, Grant Fuhr, Larry Robinson, and Red Kelly. These are just snippets of interviews that I completed with them -- I'll be writing about them more in the coming months for my "50 Forgotten Stories" series at LAKings.com.
Larry Robinson, on Dmitri Khristich:
A ton of talent. But I got the feeling that he didn't enjoy the game.
But he always played well for me. We weren't the most gifted bunch. We didn't have a lot of depth. We relied on him for most of our scoring.
But he just looked like a guy that wasn't happy.
Grant Fuhr, on his much-improved play late in his brief LA tenure:
I think it was just the chance to play a little bit. Coming in here, I hadn't played a whole lot in Buffalo. I got the opportunity to play a little bit. Yea, the first half, I wasn't really good. But the second half, things went well. Turned out it worked well for me. I had a good experience here.
Red Kelly, on rumors that he was going to suit up for the Kings when he joined LA practices during the 1968 playoff series against the Minnesota North Stars:
Not close. I was just coaching. If I wanted to play, I would've stayed in Toronto and played. Because they offered me a four-year contract to keep playing. But I decided to retire and come here and coach the Kings.
Marcel Dionne, on the NHL100 jacket:
I gotta lose a few more pounds [to wear my NHL100 jacket out]. Start showing up at a few places, tell them what this [NHL100 logo] is all about -- I had a 100 girlfriends in my lifetime. (laughs)
Marcel's wife Carol interjects:
What did you just say?
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