If you look back at our free agency edition of Rank, you'll notice that only one of our top ten free agents still remains unsigned. That man is 45 year old Jaromir Jagr. Easily one of the best players in NHL history, Jagr turned into a journeyman for the second half of his career. He has already played for eight NHL teams, most recently the Florida Panthers. Now he is looking for a new home since the Panthers are taking a younger approach to building a winner in south Florida.
Jagr is still a legitimate player, definitely a top nine forward in the modern NHL. Last season he put up 46 points with 16 goals, a total any team would like to see from a third line winger. He is far from the player that would score 40 goals and 100 points annually, but that does not mean teams should look the other way. The game has changed. In year's past the basic offensive concept was your top six forwards were scorers and your bottom six were gritty defenders. That is far from the case now. With the scoring in the NHL plummeting over the last 20 years, teams need three lines that can score. Look at a team like Pittsburgh where Phil Kessel is a third line wing with first line skill.
There is a laundry list of team's with offensive woes. Of the eleven lowest scoring teams in the league in 2016-17, only one made the playoffs (Ottawa Senators). So no one can say that goals do not matter. Especially when you consider the team that led the league in scoring won the Stanley Cup. Jagr may not be great defensively or speedy through the neutral zone, but he does put the puck in the net often. You cannot coach that, nor can you coach his ability the improve your powerplay. Of the ten worst powerplay teams last season, only two made the playoffs. I cannot say it any more bluntly, scoring matters more than anything else in today's game. Goal scorers are rare. The teams that have them win and the teams that don't lose. Jagr is a huge asset to a team looking to make a playoff push in 2017-18.
So the perfect situation for Jagr seems to be a team that was sitting on the playoff bubble last year with great defense, but lacking in scoring. There are plenty of these teams. The Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, LA Kings and Boston Bruins all make sense to me. Wherever Jagr lands needs to be a winner. Let's face it, he is at the end of his career and has no reason to go to a team in rebuild mode. He also wants to play for a team that needs him.
The Canadiens are in a curious situation. They are completely defensive minded and just lost their most explosive winger to free agency. Their window to win a Stanley Cup with Carey Price is rapidly closing. Furthermore there may not be a Stanley Cup contender with less scoring ability. If you add Jagr to this team, he could easily jump onto the second line and top powerplay unit. The best news for Jagr is the Canadiens have plenty of cap space, about $10 million. Carey Price's mega-contract does not kick in until next year. So a one year deal around $3.5 million sounds like a good option for both teams. There may be no team that needs Jagr more and certainly not one with a better shot at winning the cup.
The Washington Capitals are in need of a franchise shakeup. This team needs a ton of help. It is hard to believe the back to back President's Trophy champs are being viewed as having no shot at winning the Stanley Cup. I guess that's what happens when you repeatedly choke in the playoffs. Last season the Capitals were third in goals for and first in goals against. This offseason they lost Karl Alzner, Kevin Shattenkirk and Justin Williams. They were unable to replace any of those losses. The Capitals have a little more than $4 million in cap space, more than enough to bring in Jagr. The natural response is "Well, they don't need scoring." My response to that is who is gonna score goals from the wing for them besides Ovechkin and Oshie? They are a big physical team that lacks scoring depth. They need a positive veteran presence in the locker room. Jagr is that guy.
I really like the Tampa Bay roster. As long as this team stays healthy, they have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup. However, trading Jonathan Drouin to Montreal left a scoring vacancy on their right wing. The Lightning were in the middle of the league in goals scored last season, they cannot afford slip further. Tampa Bay has already shown an affinity for veteran players when they added Chris Kunitz and Dan Girardi earlier in free agency. With $8.5 million in cap space they have plenty of room to make some more additions.
Los Angeles has gone from Stanley Cup contender to a hockey wasteland. Their front office mangled this franchise with terrible contracts and over-valued veterans. They still have some nice pieces with Doughty, Quick, Carter and Kopitar. However, they do not have enough young players to keep this team afloat for the future. They are the third oldest team in the league by average age. So their only hope is to try and win now with what they have. The Kings do have a little over $6 million in cap space currently. So they have room to add talent. The problem is there is almost nothing left in free agency and they have nothing to trade. All their valuable players have no movement clauses and no team wants their bad contracts anyway. The Kings could use Jagr, he would make a nice second or third line right wing for this team. They finished 25th in the league in scoring last season, goal scoring is an enormous need. If they sign Jagr to a one year deal and he plays well you can do one of two things. Either hope the added scoring pushes them into the playoffs, or trade him at the deadline for a prospect/draft pick. Worst case scenario is that he does not play well and you end up in the same predicament you are already in. Jagr may not want to go to LA, simply because they are not a serious cup contender. Also he seems to enjoy playing in the Eastern Conference. All but 34 games of his career were spent with teams in the east. Regardless, beggers can't be choosers and Jagr is a begger now.
The Boston Bruins are a team similar to the Kings. A recent Stanley Cup champion whose window appears to be almost closed. Tons of veterans with grit, but only a couple true scorers in the lineup. The good news for Boston is they have a ton of cap space and play in the NHL's weakest division, the Atlantic. They already have good goaltending, very good defensemen and great defensive forwards. They are probably the only team in the league where the top two lines are their shut down defensive lines. I guess that is what happens when you have Patrice Bergeron and David Backes. The Bruins problem is scoring. They finished with the same number of goals as Tampa Bay and beyond Brad Marchand they do not have anyone for other teams to worry about. Jagr could thrive on the Bruins third line. He would definitely benefit from Marchand constantly drawing the opposing teams best defensive unit. Furthermore the Bruins have more cap space than any team needs, almost $13 million. There would be no risk in them giving Jagr a two year deal at $4 million. He has already played 11 games in a Bruin uniform and did very well, managing just under a point per game.
It is hard to say what will happen with Jaromir Jagr. He is a special talent that seems to be able to improve most teams. However, there are not many teams willing to give a multiyear/multi-million dollar contract to a 45 year old player. There are many teams interested, but they want to wait and bring him in on a tryout contract. Very little money and no risk, but that is not what Jagr wants. So what we have is a staring contest and the question is who will blink first. Jagr has to make a decision. Does he want to play for a winner or does he just want to play and get paid? If he wants to join a winner then he is simply going to have to wait and maybe settle for a tryout contract. If he just wants to play then his agent needs to call Las Vegas or Arizona and say he wants a one year deal and $3 million. These teams are not going anywhere anyway and Jagr would sell a lot of tickets and jerseys for them. A last resort for Jagr is always the KHL. He has gone that route once before and I am sure the door is always open for him to do it again.
There is a laundry list of team's with offensive woes. Of the eleven lowest scoring teams in the league in 2016-17, only one made the playoffs (Ottawa Senators). So no one can say that goals do not matter. Especially when you consider the team that led the league in scoring won the Stanley Cup. Jagr may not be great defensively or speedy through the neutral zone, but he does put the puck in the net often. You cannot coach that, nor can you coach his ability the improve your powerplay. Of the ten worst powerplay teams last season, only two made the playoffs. I cannot say it any more bluntly, scoring matters more than anything else in today's game. Goal scorers are rare. The teams that have them win and the teams that don't lose. Jagr is a huge asset to a team looking to make a playoff push in 2017-18.
The Canadiens are in a curious situation. They are completely defensive minded and just lost their most explosive winger to free agency. Their window to win a Stanley Cup with Carey Price is rapidly closing. Furthermore there may not be a Stanley Cup contender with less scoring ability. If you add Jagr to this team, he could easily jump onto the second line and top powerplay unit. The best news for Jagr is the Canadiens have plenty of cap space, about $10 million. Carey Price's mega-contract does not kick in until next year. So a one year deal around $3.5 million sounds like a good option for both teams. There may be no team that needs Jagr more and certainly not one with a better shot at winning the cup.
I really like the Tampa Bay roster. As long as this team stays healthy, they have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup. However, trading Jonathan Drouin to Montreal left a scoring vacancy on their right wing. The Lightning were in the middle of the league in goals scored last season, they cannot afford slip further. Tampa Bay has already shown an affinity for veteran players when they added Chris Kunitz and Dan Girardi earlier in free agency. With $8.5 million in cap space they have plenty of room to make some more additions.
Los Angeles has gone from Stanley Cup contender to a hockey wasteland. Their front office mangled this franchise with terrible contracts and over-valued veterans. They still have some nice pieces with Doughty, Quick, Carter and Kopitar. However, they do not have enough young players to keep this team afloat for the future. They are the third oldest team in the league by average age. So their only hope is to try and win now with what they have. The Kings do have a little over $6 million in cap space currently. So they have room to add talent. The problem is there is almost nothing left in free agency and they have nothing to trade. All their valuable players have no movement clauses and no team wants their bad contracts anyway. The Kings could use Jagr, he would make a nice second or third line right wing for this team. They finished 25th in the league in scoring last season, goal scoring is an enormous need. If they sign Jagr to a one year deal and he plays well you can do one of two things. Either hope the added scoring pushes them into the playoffs, or trade him at the deadline for a prospect/draft pick. Worst case scenario is that he does not play well and you end up in the same predicament you are already in. Jagr may not want to go to LA, simply because they are not a serious cup contender. Also he seems to enjoy playing in the Eastern Conference. All but 34 games of his career were spent with teams in the east. Regardless, beggers can't be choosers and Jagr is a begger now.
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