Hockey Guy doesn’t totally disrespect Eric Lindros. I figured he was a solid pick-up for the Stars this season and I added him to my fantasy team, The Cementheads, owing to his ability to earn penalty minutes while collecting some points.

He was up to his old tricks against the Blues Wednesday night. He threw his 6-foot-4, 240-pound body around with some gusto and scored a couple of goals.

But when it came time to answer the bell for his aggressiveness, he chose to drop the gloves with Dan Hinote - a player nowhere near his size - after apparently ignoring an overture from Matt Walker.

Hinote is a much tougher player than Eric the Dread, of course, and he held his own in the skirmish. But why didn’t  Lindros tangle with Walker?

Walker went with veteran ruffian Matthew Barnaby instead and Jamal Mayers and Brenden Morrow really got after it. At the risk of sounding like I’m drunk with bloodlust, Hockey Guy rather enjoyed those tiffs.

Afterward, the Stars raved about how Lindros asserted himself.

“He either hit them on the forecheck or he made them hear footsteps,” Morrow told the Dallas Morning News. “I mean, he was a force out there. It was impressive.”

Um, whatever.

“I’ve played with him and I’ve played against him, and when he’s on like that, there is no stopping him,” Barnaby said. “The guy is massive at 240 or 250 and he can skate. When he comes in on the forecheck like that, it’s just a scary thing.”

Yeah, sure,

“Eric is a hard guy to contain when he’s playing like he did tonight,” Mike Modano said. “His MO since he’s been in the league has been to create space and make things happen, and he did that tonight.”

My memories of Eric are a bit different. Checking little  Nelson Emerson headfirst into the boards on his first shift at the old Arena . . . running from Tony Twist when the Big, Not-So Bad Flyers came to the new place . . . Eric’s mom and dad micromanaging his career from Day One . . . The Lindros Family complaining when Eric was asked to play the wing for Canada in international competition, exposing him to more contact . . . so when I saw him square off with the intrepid Hinote, it was the same old same old to me.

It’s scary to think how good Lindros could have been if he was legitimately tough and even halfway durable. The NHL might have had to outlaw him - or at least install cushioned dasher boards and breakaway glass.

If he played the game as hard as Dallas Drake — or Hinote, for that matter — he could have become the greatest force the sport  ever saw.