It’s nearing the end of July and Jaromir Jagr still doesn’t have a contract.
For most 45-year-olds, this wouldn’t be surprising, but Jagr is not your typical 45-year-old. Jagr is a legend, one of the greatest hockey players of all time, who won two Stanley Cups, two Art Ross Trophies, and an Olympic gold medal before Elias Pettersson was even born. But even this past season, solidly in his mid-40’s, he was a solid top-six forward for the Florida Panthers, finishing fourth on the team in scoring with 46 points.
Jagr was 75th among NHL forwards last season in Goals Above Replacement (GAR) and if we just separate out even-strength offence and defence, the two most repeatable elements of GAR, he was 27th among NHL forwards.
Even as he turned 45 last season, he was still one of the most dominant puck possession players in the NHL. Among forwards who played at least 500 5-on-5 minutes last season, Jagr was 26th in corsi percentage. He may have lost a step speed-wise, but he can still control the puck along the boards and create scoring chances down low.
On top of his excellent play at even-strength, Jagr was a boon to the Panthers power play, putting up 8 goals and 13 points with the man advantage. That’s more power play goals than Daniel and Henrik Sedin combined last season.
So, this establishes that Jagr is still a legitimately great player in the NHL, even as his beard gets greyer. But does it make sense for the Canucks to sign him?
Undoubtedly, Jagr would make the Canucks a better team. Last season, they struggled with puck possession at even-strength and couldn’t score on the power play: Jagr would help in both those areas.
Notably, when I looked at Dom Luszczyszyn’s article about “star players,” the Canucks had none. No stars. Signing Jagr would give them one. Jagr was in the fifth tier of Luszczyszyn’s star players by Game Score, signifying that he was better than 87.5% of the rest of the NHL.
In addition, Jagr might provide a PR boost: everyone loves Jagr and you can imagine brisk sales of Jagr jerseys and t-shirts, not to mention adding another jersey option for the Traveling Jagrs. And, unlike some NHL greats, Jagr has a fun, engaging personality as well.
But here’s the thing: the Canucks are rebuilding. If they were in win-now mode and had a potential opening in the lineup, signing Jagr to a one-year deal would make all sorts of sense. But they’re not in that mode and don’t have a plethora of openings in the lineup, with all sorts of young wingers vying for roster spots come September.
While Jagr could conceivably play a similar role to Mats Sundin in 2008-09, providing veteran leadership and a great example for the youth, it’s not like the Canucks lack exactly that with the Sedins in the locker room. Jagr should play that role with someone, but the Canucks might not be a great fit. Sure, Jagr with the Sedins on the Get Off My Lawn Line could be a puck possession dream, but with the lack of footspeed on that line, it might be a nightmare instead.
The best argument you could make is that signing Jagr would give the Canucks youth a little more time to simmer in the AHL before they reach a full boil, but the truth is that a lot of their young players need to start getting in the NHL lineup now.
Nikolay Goldobin is 21 and has done pretty much everything he can in the AHL. The 23-year-old Reid Boucher needs to cement himself in the NHL this season or else he’ll risk becoming the next Jason Krog. 20-year-old Brock Boeser looks like he’s ready for full-time NHL action with little need for an AHL warm-up.
Heck, Anton Rodin will be turning 27 just a couple months into the season. If he’s not an NHLer now, he likely never will be.
So the question with Jagr is if he can fit into the lineup without pushing out one of the young players for whom he would be setting an example.
On top of that is the question of whether the Canucks even could sign Jagr. In his long career, Jagr has never played outside of the Eastern Conference except for one brief stint in Dallas during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. You have to wonder if the excessive travel and constant time-zone changes would appeal to Jagr at this stage of his career. The weather might be a bit of a shock after three years in Florida.
As much as it’s a nice hypothetical to imagine Jagr in a Canucks jersey, it just doesn’t make much sense for the Canucks right now.
