Former Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers forward Eric Lindros is extremely unhappy with a column, penned by one-time NHL referee Paul Stewart and published on Huffington Post.
The former star NHL forward is so unhappy, in fact, that he's filed a $3 million lawsuit against both Stewart and the Post, according to a report from TSN.
"In documents filed in an Ontario court, Lindros says his reputation has been sullied after Stewart wrote about his poor on-ice relationship with Lindros, which was capped by an incident when Lindros allegedly tore up posters he was asked by Stewart to autograph for a charity," the report said.
Stewart has been a frequent contributor for the Post since retiring in 2003.
In July, 2014, he penned a column titled, "Hecklers, Hooligans and the Striped-Shirted Maitre D," in which he depicts his relationship with a young Lindros, just drafted into the NHL in 1992.
"Eric Lindros was a player I got off with on the wrong foot and we never developed a rapport because neither he nor I wanted one," Stewart wrote in his online column. "It started out innocently enough."
In the article, Stewart describes refereeing a game between the Flyers and New Jersey Devils wherein he had to wait for the commercial break to end in order to drop the puck, drawing a frustrated Lindros' ire.
After the game, Stewart alleges that Lindros tore up autographed posters meant to be donated to a charity auction upon realizing they were meant for the referee.
Lindros, in court filings, denies the allegations and claims that the article was republished on various other news sites at least 47 times.
"It was both intended and foreseeable to Stewart and the AOL defendants that the article would receive widespread public attention and readership," Lindros's lawyers wrote in his statement of claim. "Lindros is a well-known public figure, particularly in Canada and the United States and other countries where ice hockey is popular. ... (Lindros) has suffered aggravated damages as a consequence of the republications.
"The republications reported that 'Eric Lindros was apparently an enormous (bleep)' and that 'Lindros angrily tearing up charity posters is a high point in athlete dickhead behavior.'"
Huffington Post Canada managing editor Kenny Yum, in a statement emailed to TSN, said "This is before our lawyers and I can't comment." Stewart would not discuss the matter.
