Fulltilt Legends – Jaromir Jagr

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Jagr In The Early Stages Of Penguins Career

On Saturday, the Rangers took on Jagr and the Devils. FTR continues it’s LEGENDS SERIES by looking back on Jaromir Jagr’s great career. 

On March 1st 2014, Jaromir Jagr tallied his 700th career goal, and became only the 7th player in the NHL history to record such numbers.Jagr was drafted 5th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1990 draft. A rookie season that saw him put up 27 goals and 30 assists for 57 points in 80 games. He would go on to spend the next 11 seasons with the Penguins, where he took a total of 5 Art Ross Trophies, 3 Lester B. Pearson Trophies, and 1 Hart Memorial Trophy.

Jagr then left Pittsburgh in the beginning of the 2001-02 season and signed the NHL’s largest contract at the time, which paid him 11 million dollars per season for 7 years. A total gross income of 77 million dollars. His first two seasons in Washington were viewed as a disappointment. Putting up 79 points in the 2001-02 season in just 69 games, though impressive today, was not enough for the Capitals as they missed the post-season that year. 2002-03 he put up 77 points in 75 games, took the Capitals into the post-season as the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference, but lost their first round match-up to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

On January 23, 2004, he was traded to the New York Rangers for Anson Carter and an agreement that Washington would pay approximately $4 million per year of Jagr’s salary. Jagr also agreed to defer (with interest) $1 million per year for the remainder of his contract to allow the trade to go ahead. When acquired by the Rangers, he finished his 31 games with 29 points, but the Rangers failed to miss the post-season that year. Jagr would then go back to the Czech Republic during the NHL lockout in the 2004-05 season. Where Jagr led his country to gold at the 2005 World Hockey Championships in Austria.

Jagr His First Season As Rangers Captain

Starting in the 2005 season, many viewed the Rangers as one of the worst teams in the league, Jagr thought otherwise and his stats were there to prove it. Jagr went on to set 6 NYR records that season and carried them to their first playoff berth in 7 seasons. Of those records, the biggest one was, most points in a single season, which Jagr racked up 123 of them, 54 of which, were goals, which shattered the mark held by Adam Graves with 52. Those are records, that still till this day, have yet to be matched or broken by any other NYR player.

Jagr also become only the 6th player in franchise history to record 100 or more points in a season. The regular season success thus fell short, when the Rangers were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by his current team, the New Jersey Devils.

At the beginning of the 2006-07 season, Jagr was named the 24th Captain in NYR’s history. In the first game of that season, the Rangers took on Jagr’s former team, the Washington Capitals. A game in which Jagr scored a goal in just under 30 seconds on his first shift of the game. In late November in a game against the Maple Leafs, Jagr recorded his 600th career NHL goal. Later in that same season in February against the Capitals, Jagr picked up an assist to record his 1500th career point. He became only the 12th NHL player to reach this milestone. Another record Jagr picked achieved that year, in a game against the Canadiens, he scored his 30th goal of the season to record 15 consecutive seasons of 30 or more goals. The tally tied him with former Ranger, Mike Gartner for first all-time.

He would finish that season with 96 points in 82 games. He took the Rangers into the playoffs, where they went on to sweep the Atlanta Thrashers, before losing to the Buffalo Sabres in 6 games in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Jagr played all 10 games during the playoffs, where he would score 11 points, 5 goals and 6 assists.

Headed into the 2007-08 campaign, a game in mid-November against the New Jersey Devils, Jagr tallied his 4th goal of the year, a goal that made him become the first player in NHL history to record a goal in 53 NHL arena’s. A record that still stands today.

Jagr would finish the year with his lowest point total as a NYR. In 82 games, he recorded 71 points, which included just 25 goals, thus ending his run of most consecutive 30 goal seasons. The Rangers and Jagr made the playoffs and faced the New Jersey Devils once again. This time, the Rangers took out the Devils before bowing out to the Penguins.

When his contract was done, the Rangers and Jagr did not see eye-to-eye on a new deal. Jagr then left the NHL to pursue his career in the KHL. He spent 3 seasons in Russia playing for Omsk Avangard, before returning in the 2011-12 season to play with the Philadelphia Flyers. A season where he would play 73 games and totaling 54 points. He also put up 8 points in 11 playoff games with the Flyers, before being knocked out in the second round by the New Jersey Devils.

After that season, another lockout occurred and Jagr once again went overseas to continue playing. This time, he went back home to the Czech Republic. When the lockout was lifted he signed a 1-year deal to play with the Dallas Stars. He played 34 games there before being dealt to the Boston Bruins at the trade deadline. Jagr helped the Bruins during their Stanley Cup run, he totaled 9 points in just 11 regular season games, and carried his momentum into the post-season where he put up 10 assists in 22 games, before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals.

This year Jagr agreed to a one-year deal with the New Jersey Devils. He is currently the Devils leading goal scorer. In just 66 games, at the age of 42, he has 57 points, 21 of which are goals. With just 16 games remaining in the regular season and with the way Jagr has played, 30 goals is achievable. So for one of the greatest players in NHL, we here at FullTilt, would like to thank Jaromir Jagr for the things he achieved with our franchise, and wish him luck this season, and for however many more are to come.

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