One of the greatest careers in NHL history has come to an
end.
Jaromir Jagr, former captain of the New York Rangers, has
announced he’s decided to accept a two-year contract from Avangard Omsk of
Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.
He’d hoped to re-sign with the Rangers but apparently no
real contract talks took place between himself and Rangers management.
Jagr has at times been a considered a moody, petulant
self-centered prima donna by his critics, but there is no denying he ranks
among the greatest forwards in NHL history.
He won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1999, the Art Ross
as the leading point scorer five times, won the Pearson award three times, was
a seven time first team all star, played on two Stanley Cup championships with
the Pittsburgh Penguins and won an Olympic gold medal as part of the 1998 Czech
Republic Men’s hockey team.
Jagr also holds 12 NHL records, including most assists by a
rookie in the Stanley Cup finals (5), most regular season assists (87) and points
(149) by a right wing, and 8 Rangers team records, all set in 2005-06,
including most regular season goals (54), points (123), power play goals (24),
shots (368) and tied with Mark Messier and Don Murdoch for most game winning
goals with 9.
He finishes his NHL career with 646 goals, 953 assists and
1599 points in the regular season, and 77 goal and 181 points in 169 playoff
games.
His was a Hall of Fame career and he should be a first
ballot selection.
Some might feel cheated that Jagr will finish his playing
career in Russia rather than the NHL, but NHL fans got to see him at his very
best for most of his 17 NHL seasons, and that’s what he should be remembered
for.
I wish he signed somewhere else in the NHL, I always liked watching highlights of him. He will definatly be missed my the NHL fans, especially Ranger fans.
Wow. I was wishing the habs would sign him if Sundin was to retire or sign with some other team. Watching this sweet video made me remember why I used to hate him a few years ago. He was too good.
As a Ranger fan I'm torn on this. On the one hand I can't say enough about what Jagr did coming out of the lockout to help turn the Rangers from a joke to a force in the East.
On the other hand, he was getting up there in age and last year the Rangers handed a ton of money to two top flight players in their primes (Gomez and Drury) and watched them get pushed to the 2nd and 3rd lines respectively because their games didn't mesh with Jagr's. I watched the Rangers become impotent on the power play because they spent 90 seconds of each power play trying to force the puck in to Jagr and cycling over and over again along the perimeter rather than shooting.
Again, you can't marginalize what Jagr has meant to the Rangers, but at the same time, as long as he was here the game had to run through him, he had to be the lead dog and the team had to be built to fit him. Now they can build around younger players and use the speed attack game that helped the Pens get to the finals and that they brought Drury and Gomez in to run in the first place.
Greatest players of all time? Jagr would have never won the cup if he wasn't on those great Pittsburgh teams. I'm sick of people calling one dimensional players such as Gretzky, Jagr, Lemieux great. Ray Bourque was the greatest player of all time. Good riddance to Jagr.
The fact that you're a fan of laviolette shows how ignorant you are, and if there was any doubt your comment cements it.
You rip Jags for needing a great team around him to win the cup - wasn't it your boy Bourque who orchestrated a trade out of Boston and onto a stacked Avs team so that he could sniff the playoffs? Yup I think it was.
Gretzky didn't have to be great defensively - not when he could singlehandedly outscore other teams.
Jagr at his best was impossible to control - too strong for quick defensemen to knock off the puck and too fast for bruisers to contain.
Great article, and thanks for the Top 10 link. Any Pens fan who thinks that Jags deserved the boos every time he touched the puck needs to watch this Top 10 link. He gave the Pens 11 of the best years of his stellar career, and to hear the boos in the arena was an embarrassment. The Cup and Jags came the same year. He deserves to be treated in Pgh as royalty. One of the best offensive talents this league has ever seen. The Pens and their fans were very blessed to have Jagr to watch night in and night out. The Pgh media gave him a rough road, when the team was not able to pay anyone; especially not the best forward in the league. I can't help think he may have wrapped things up there in the Burgh, and what might have been, if he was shown the respect he so richly deserves. Spec's first line says it best.
Spector
Rangers have actually got some semblance of management there in NY ? Jagr went perhaps not merely for the money but more likely than not he knew that he'd be wanted. Whilst the Rangers just sat around and twiddled their thumbs.
Afterall look at who owns the franchise ? You shouldn't be suprised at all by any of this.
justan' aka tophatal ...........
Last edited by justanotherfan on July 5th at 5:39 AM.
I meant it as in "your hockey knowledge could use some improvement" that's not a personal attack.
My point was that you can't blast Jagr and say that he only won a cup because he was on stacked teams and then tout Ray Bourque as the best ever when he wouldn't have won jack had he not been dealt to the Avs as a "courtesy" at the end of his career.
Jagr was Jagr. He carried ton a baggage, including the possibility of throwing games because of his gambling debt. Sure he had skill, but was he a team player? Nope. Jagr was a distraction on the ice and in the locker room. Bumping heads with coaches and not buying into a teams system is another part of his legacy.
I put Jagr in the "could have been" category along with Theo Fleury. Both could have done more and much better - winning more and achieving more - if they could have gotten past their demons. Theo never could, and Jagr could not as well.
Jagr will most likely end up in the Hall of Fame, but he will never be a role model. I, for one, hope it is not on the first ballot. Make him wait. We need to be careful how we define greatness - its not just the skill a player has, but the attitude, and off ice manner as well.
Good bye Jagr, you found your payday. How much more do you owe your bookie?
I'm no fan of the Dolans but you can't make the Rangers out to be a bad guy in this - there is no bad guy.
Jagr wanted a two year deal that included a clause that he would be the highest paid player on the team. The Rangers wanted to employ a faster more attack oriented style that better suits last year's big additions Drury and Gomez.
What's more, a team with Jagr has to play Jagr's style, as we saw last year Drury and Gomez don't fit that style - hence they were relegated to 2nd and 3rd line centers last season.
And it's not like the Rangers kicked him out the door - they were trying to bring in Mats Sundin because they thought he would mesh perfectly with Jagr. It was only after Mats put his decision on hold that the Rangers went ahead and moved on with plan b. In the end it's probably the best scenario, the two parties part on good terms, Jagr won't haunt the team and the team gets to turn leadership over to a new guard of proven winners in their primes (Drury and Gomez).
I don't think the Rangers were really that interested in Sundin... they would have had what, nearly 30 millions worth of centers? And the team would still have been playing Jagr's way...
I can't sit here and tell you what Glen was thinking truthfully, but what we were hearing here was that the plan the Rangers had with Sundin was convince both him and Jagr to pair on a top line for one shot at the cup. They then would have moved Drury to Gomez's wing and had a second unit that would play an entirely different style from the first.
Ray Bourque isn't even the greatest Bruins defeseman ever, let alone the best player ever. Saying Jagr isn't one of the greatest just shows a massive ignorance. And those two teams that Jagr did win Cups with, they blew right past the Bruins and Mr. Bourque in the Wales Conference Finals both times to get there.
Its too bad Jagr reputation is soiled in Pittsburgh where he made his name, he is unquestionably the second best player in franchise history. He willed the team in the late 90s that weren't much beyond him to the playoffs, and had what should be legendary performance in Game 6 of the '99 QF to help upset the Devils. His personality certainly was aloof, and that was a shame.
He is one of the true great players off all time, and one of the 2 or 3 best Europeans ever in the NHL. Don't believe, watch his tying goal against the Blackhawks in Game 1 of the '92 SCF and try and tell me he wasn't one of the best ever.
Pens fan here......Hats off to Jagr....What a career, and thanks for the memories JAGS....All good things must come to an end.....68 will always be remembered in PITTSBURGH, even after the BOOS.....
Ten, or even five years ago, Jagr had the best set of hands in the NHL, and one of the deadliest shots. What he does with a puck on his stick blows my mind. He's not a two-way player, but he doesn't have to be and that's not what he was paid for over one of the better right-wing careers the NHL has seen.
I like this move for both parties. Jagr can still play, but he's obviously declining due to age, and the new formula for NHL championships is speed, speed, speed. You don't win championships with one guy coming up to the half boards from the goal line anymore. Maybe that's how it's done in the KHL. I don't know, I haven't seen any footage from the RSL or KHL in a long time.
One thing's certain though. Anyone who slams Jagr for his playing ability needs to go back and find some footage from the long-hair era. Then maybe issue a written apology.
Just gotta mention this part before I leave ... Bobby Orr was the best player ever to play the game of hockey. And even with him on the roster, the Canadiens still steamrolled the B's. Borque was pretty darn good, and I'm glad he got his cup because you'll never find a more genuine person. But please learn history.
To the question "Who's the greatest hockey player of all-time: Gretzky, Howe or Orr?" there is only one correct answer: "Yes."
While Jagr just doesn't quite rate up there with the immortals of the game -- the Holy Trinity above, Lemieux, Messier, Richard, Roy and a handful of others -- he doesn't miss out by much. Jagr was a superb talent, wonderful to watch in his prime. His departure from the NHL is a loss to all fans of hockey.
If Jagr fulfills his two years in the KHL and then calls it a day, he'll be eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013. In which case he will no doubt be spending an all-expenses-paid weekend in Toronto come that November.
I hate to break this to you, chum, but Ray Bourque is not only NOT the best player of all time, he isn't even the best player selected in his draft year: that would be Mark Messier, selected in the third round of the 1979 draft by the Edmonton Oilers.
I'm not saying that Ray Bourque wasn't a superb hockey player -- he's clearly among one of the finest defensemen I've had the pleasure of witnessing in my lifetime -- but there's a pretty wide gulf between him and the best players of all time.
Frankly, I'd be fascinated to read your rationale for rating Bourque above Messier and Lemieux, let alone above Orr, Howe and Gretzky.
Honestly, I'm glad to see Jagr gone even though he FINALLY produced during last years playoffs. I found it difficult to see him wearing the "C" after Messier when this guy wouldn't drop the gloves or step into a fight if it involved his mom. I'm not sure if the Rangers will award someone the "C", I don't know who it would be, and I hope they don't give it to Shanahan cause' if you ask me, he hasn't earned it. So who?
Last edited by demonhead6 on July 26th at 11:28 PM.
Just to add to my last comment, Jagr was a great player as a Penguin. Just not as a Ranger. I think watching the playoffs and seeing the elderly lady featured on tv in Pittsburgh wearing a Jagr jersey at every game AT home even though he was getting booed spoke volumes. He kicked butt in PA but not in NY is my point.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
