ANTHONY: Time to say goodbye
The Jaromir Jagr Era ended, appropriately, in Pittsburgh yesterday. The final tally on the era: good for Jagr, not so good for the Rangers.
Stars like Jagr are supposed to deliver Stanley Cups, not playoff-less seasons and second-round ousters. He did all he could as a player. But not as a leader.
Jagr is a diva. That’s OK if he’s leading the league in scoring and the team is going deep into the playoffs. It’s not OK if his skills are diminishing – not a lot, but a little – and the team is spinning its wheels in terms of becoming a true championship contender.
Jagr demands attention from opposing teams. He also demands attention from his own organization, just like any diva. How can we keep him happy? Who is going to play with him? One year, the Rangers added a ton of Czechs. That didn’t work. Then they signed Drury and Gomez. No Cup on Seventh Avenue.
Is it Jagr’s fault? Of course not. But to sign him to a long-term deal means you have to pay him top dollar while he really starts to decline. Not a good idea. A one-year deal means you have to do this all again next offseason.
Move on, Rangers. Let the Jagr Era come to a quiet end.
JIM: Do what you can to keep Jagr
We saw over the past month what Jaromir Jagr is still capable of. Yes, frustrated Rangers fans, it sure would have been helpful had he played like that all season, instead of just the last month. But let's not lose sight of the fact that Jagr is not 28 anymore. What this past month showed us is that at 36 he still has it, that he can be the type of player who can change a game.
The difficult part here is the salary. The Rangers can't pay him the roughly $8 million he took in this year. Will he accept lower? He'll have to. But would he consider an incentive-laden contract? Based on his comments after yesterday's game, he seemed very wishy-washy at best about staying a Ranger.
That's too bad, because I do think the Rangers need him, even if it's for one more year. Maybe he envisions his career ending with a team that plays a more up-tempo style, one in which he can score more and be more productive.
But the Rangers have to stress to him that with their youth movement, he can be to the Rangers players what Mario Lemiuex was to him. He wants to do it. And they've come this far. The team has turned a corner the last three seasons. Give it one more chance.
Agree? Disagree? Tell us.
Comments (13)
Give Jagr a fresh start elsewhere. He'll perk up for a while, and people will shake their heads and ask what the Rangers were thinking. But the money's better invested elsewhere.
At least in Jagr's case there's a case to be made either way. That's not true in Shanny's case. Bye.
of course keep Jagr, he is the Captain of the team, a great team player and can, like Mario, take control of a game single handedly, as we saw this post-season.
Jagr's points dropped a little bit...so what, who excelled on the Rangers offensively? You get Jagr that PP quarteback and crease clearing defenseman, his PP points will shoot up to where they were before this season.
you get him a better winger than Straka and I feel he'll excell even more with him.
We'll see later what happens
They should make an honest attempt at keeping Jagr. With all the young European players coming up the ranks he could be a great mentor to them. I think the real question is should we keep Tom Renney. He has alot of tools at his disposal and has not been able to take the team beyond the second round. He hasn't supported his players with the referees and he could not get the power play going for the last two years.
I think he was a good choice for a developing team but now the question is can he take the team to the next level and win.
I agree with the guy who loves the Rangers. Keep Jagr (hopefully, at a cap-reducing price). In fact, I'd forget about the Cup next year, let all the other old-timers go, bring all the kids up, and let JJ teach them what he learned from Mario, just as he taught Dubi. Jagr still has a couple of scoring years ahead of him, after which we'll wind up with a young team centered around Gomez and Drury. If they use the cash to get one big D and one PP QB, it'll make for a very interesting future.
Jagr got to go, he is not part of a solution and in many ways part of the problem.
Keep Jagr! Keep Shanny! ... They are both GREAT!
Let the younger ones take up some slack but these 2 Veterans are without a doubt a part of our team and we need to keep them both.
Bring Him Back!
Keep Jagr!!!!!!!!!!
sorry, forgot to put name.
Keep Jagr!!!!!!!!
Jagr is an amazing talent. I say keep him but sorround him with some great young talent. Lose Gomez & Drury. Those guys were completely shut down in the playoffs proving they don't have anywhere near what it takes. Get rid of Hollweg too - tragic.
how do you propose we lose Gomez and Drury?
Keep Jagr. Dump Malik. If Rozy wants too much money, let him go, too.
I like Jagr and his contributions, but his production fell off the map this season. He couldn't mesh well with two of the best centers (Gomez, Drury) in the league because they didn't dipsy-doodle like Michael Nylander. He's still a dominant puck handler, but has a hard time finishing these days, largely because a) everyone on the ice knows that the puck is coming to him and keys off him, and b) he cannot "buy" a call from NHL officials. He was better in the playoffs, but it's clear that his age has finally caught up with his skill factor. It's time for him and the Rangers to both move on and find a fresh start.
The Rangers could end up releasing a good chunk of the team in the off-season: Jagr ($3.86M out of $8.4M salary in '07), Shanny (great shot but no legs, $2.5M), Strudwick (has guts but no legs, $0.5M), Hollwegg (no brains, $0.5M), Malik (no legs or brains, $2.5M), and Mara (not much of anything, $3M). If you count Jagr's full salary (something NYR may be paying next year), there's $17M+ tied up in those players.
With that kind of money, re-sign Avery, Rosival and Straka, and then make a strong run at a few of the better names in free agent market - Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra, Brian Campbell, Jason Smith, John-Michael Lilies, Dmitri Kalinin, Wade Redden, etc. Get a winger who can finish (Hossa/Demitra), a hard-hitting defenseman (Smith), and a puck-moving defenseman (Campbell/Lilies). Fill in the other positions with more youth from the farm (Hutchinson and Korpikoski in '08, Sanguinetti and Cherapanov in '09, etc.).