Via prohockey-fans.com, here is my latest published article on Flyers Forward Jaromir Jagr:
On the eve of the start of the NHL season, the Philadelphia Flyers were on hand to watch the Boston Bruins raise their Stanley Cup Banner. While most of the focus was on the defending champs, things quickly shifted to the Flyers as they walked out of Boston with a 2-1 win and first 2 points of the season. For me, all eyes were on #68 in orange and white, Jaromir Jagr. The Czech forward was gearing for his first NHL game since leaving to the KHL after the 07/08 season, and to many it is still extremely weird seeing him dress for Philadelphia. The world class player, Jagr spent a majority of his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, perennial rivals of the Flyers for many years. Jagr was 1 half of a duo that perhaps was the best 1-2 punch in NHL history (aside from Gretzky/Messier) – paired with Mario Lemieux, the two were unstoppable in leading the Pens to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. There is so much that I have to say about Jagr, but I believe his play on the ice speaks for himself – at age 39 Jagr still looks like his old self and the skill has not disappeared whatsoever. While he doesn’t have the Hall of Fame cast he had in Pittsburgh (Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Paul Coffey, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy, Rick Tocchet and Bryan Trottier ), Jagr is the old guy in a group of extremely young and talented forwards in Philadelphia and looks to make an impact immediately. The most important thing for Jagr is his ability to click with top line players Claude Giroux and James Van Riemsdyk, both whom are the cornerstones of this young Flyers team. For me, their isn’t a lot of players that excite me as much as watching Claude Giroux, the young center is among the smartest in the game and his ability to read plays and make passes is amongst the NHL’s elite. Throw in Jagr and JVR, and the Flyers top line becomes awfully scary for teams to play against. Jagr is scary good at finding the openings, while he isn’t as fast and flashy as he once was he still has that lethal shot and more importantly has the ability to find the spaces to get open and that is what makes playing with Giroux amazing to watch. A lot of people had questions concerning Jagr – would he be able to skate in the “new” NHL, would he still be able to score, would he be able to keep up with a young flyers team etc. However, the most frequent question would be how would Jagr adapt to the NHL after playing in Russia the last few years. Many people don’t think Jagr will be as good, but for me those people are just simply wrong. Jagr may not be the fastest anymore, but the talent just doesn’t disappear and this is why I am extremely confident in Jagr producing this year. He picked up an assist last night for his 1600 NHL point, a milestone in which only 8 other players have reached before (Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Gordie Howe, Ron Francis, Marcel Dionne, Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux and Joe Sakic). Jagr is 260 points ahead of the next active player in the NHL (Teemu Selanne at 1340), and trails Joe Sakic by 40 points to become 8 th all-time. While it is clearly a no-brainer that Jagr is in the class as the players listed above, he still has shown no signs of slowing down and will likely pass Sakic by season’s end. No one is expecting any MVPs or scoring races out of Jaromir, but for me the expectations are extremely high and I believe he is capable of producing 50-70 points playing with Giroux and JVR. Not only do I have extreme confidence in Jagr, but I believe he makes Giroux that much better and we could be seeing a monster year out of him. Philadelphia Flyers fans and players are extremely happy to have such a world class competitor in their organization, and for me just having the man back in the NHL is a truly great thing. Jaromir Jagr is and always will be one of the best hockey players of all-time, and anyone that doubts him this year will just be proven wrong by his play on the ice. Thanks for reading!
-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News
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