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The “Big E” just added a new award to his mantelpiece — the Order of Ontario.

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Eric Lindros, a Hockey Hall of Famer best known for his playing days as a rugged, hard-hitting NHL power forward with the Philadelphia Flyers, received the accolade at a ceremony held Monday night at the Royal Ontario Museum with his wife Kina alongside him.

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“It’s a huge honour. It really is. I’ve been blessed with a great group of like-minded people,” said Lindros, the No. 1 pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft who finished with 372 goals and 493 assists in 760 regular season games.

What a lot of people don’t see is the retired NHLer’s off-ice, behind-the-scenes work directed toward medical research and sports, children with disabilities and concussion awareness.

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Lindros knows quite well about concussions, which haunted the former Toronto Maple Leaf throughout his 13-season NHL career.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with things. We got Rowan’s law going. We’ve done some great work with Easter Seals and raised a lot of money in that direction,” said the London, Ont., native. “And we still are working on the research side of things getting people to collaborate.”

Lindros was a big “driving force” behind the passage of Rowan’s law, which established a concussion code of conduct in Ontario and other measures to try to prevent head injuries and ensure athletes can recover from them properly.

Rowan’s law was named in honour of Rowan Stringer, an Ottawa-area rugby player who died in in 2013 after she suffered multiple concussions after playing three matches in six days.

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The legislation makes sure that all coaches and trainers review the Ontario goverment-approved concussion awareness resources every year before engaging in sports.

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Lindros is somewhat humbled by the annual Celebrity Hockey Classic for Easter Seals, which so far has raised $3.5 million to date for children with physical disabilities.

Plus, he has made generous contributions to London Health Sciences Centre, which played a vital role in transforming orthopedic and sport medicine research.

The province also honoured 25 other recipients with the Order of Ontario on Monday, including six-time Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse, former deputy premier Elizabeth Witmer, Olympic-champion speedskater Christine Nesbitt and filmmaker Christina Jennings.

Since the order was established in 1986, a total of 849 individuals were made members for their contributions to the province in their respective fields.`

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