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Why don't NHL teams have interest in Jaromir Jagr ?

August 12, 2017, 1:41 PM ET [36 Comments]
James Tanner
Washington Capitals Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Jaromir Jagr may be in his late sixties, but he's still a quality NHL player. A first liner, even. And yet, here we are, in August, and Jagr isn't signed.

According to an article on NHL.com, Jagr "didn't expect it to be so hard to get a job on the NHL."

And, to be honest, he's right to feel that way.



Despite his advanced age - he's really 45 - Jagr is still effective in the NHL. Possibly due to the fact that he hasn't been a fast skater for years, but can still rely on his intelligence and size to get things done.

He's honestly so good that it's ridiculous he doesn't have a contract - it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say there are hundreds of players in the NHL who are not as effective as Jagr is, despite being 45.

While Jagr remains 943 points behind Gretzkey for first all time (a record he hopes to eventually break in the next 15 or so years) he is only 56 games away from passing Gordie Howe as the all-time games played leader - a record he truly deserves a chance to try and set.

There really isn't a team in the NHL that couldn't be helped by Jagr. He played in all 82 games last year and scored 16 goals and 46 points. Despite a bit of a drop in production, the Panthers were a team with tons of injuries last season, a coaching change and just a ton of overall turmoil. Despite it all, Jagr managed to just miss being a top 100 5v5 scorer, while killing it on the power-play. His main strength, however, is his ability to drive play and improve the numbers of those around him.

Dom Luszczyszyn of the Hockey (I'll link to the article below) says Jagr projects to be a high-end second liner next year, despite his age.

So, he drives possession, offers a guarantee of 40 points, above average PP production, and at this point might even come fairly cheap.



Dom L ends his article with a guess about why Jagr isn't signed, and I think it's a good one: he's slow. Teams value speed, and even though we have rock-solid evidence that slower players can occasionally be more effective than faster players, it's one of those things that really throws off the old eye-test and activates biases.

Either way, Jagr is clearly still effective and if someone like a 37 year old Patrick Marleau can get six million for three years, Jagr (better at 44 than Marleau was at 36) deserves a contract.

On a one-year deal, there isn't a team in hockey he wouldn't help.

What's not to like?

Someone has got to sign Jagr.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/franson-and-jagr-could-push-a-team-just-over-the-edge-so-why-are-they-still-unsigned
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