When Jaromir Jagr decided to come back to the NHL after three seasons away in the KHL, doing so with the Philadelphia Flyers was a surprise. After years of tormenting the Flyers while with the Penguins, Capitals, and Rangers was enough to make Jagr a hated man in Philly, but now he arrives as a potential hero as the Flyers aim to get back to the Stanley Cup finals and win it all.
With the Flyers kicking off their season on the road tonight in Boston (7 p.m. on Versus) it’s time for the 39 year-old Jagr to show that he’s still got his game and the skills he’s shown at the World Championships and Olympics in recent years are ones that still translate to the NHL.
Fortunately for Jagr, there’s one immediate carrot dangling in front of him in regards to NHL milestones. With one point tonight Jagr would hit the 1,600 point mark in his career and put him 41 points behind Joe Sakic for eighth all-time in the NHL. Jagr is also four goals shy of 650 in his career and 10 goals behind Brendan Shanahan for 11th all-time. Jagr is also 22 goals behind Luc Robitaille for 10th all-time.
If you’re a fan of big round numbers, if Jagr becomes an assist man this season he’s just 47 assists shy of 1,000 in his career. He’s just three behind the recently retired Mark Recchi for 13th all-time in helpers and 11 assists behind Doug Gilmour for 12th. If Jagr does get to crack 1,000 assists, he’ll be the 12th player in NHL history to do that.
As CSNPhilly.com’s Tim Panaccio finds out from the man himself, the records aren’t his motivation.“I knew about the one point, but I don’t pay attention to it,” Jagr said. “How to explain it? Everything happens for a reason. That’s the way I look at it. Maybe because I went to Russia, I will be a better player even though I’m three years older (Jagr is now 39).
“Had I stayed here, I would have had different milestones. Playing here just to get the points? That’s not me. I want to play to be happy and help a team. Maybe I could have had 1,800 points by now, but that’s not me.”The personal accolades will be nice for Jagr, but his main goal in coming back to the NHL is all about the Stanley Cup. After winning two Cups with the Penguins in the early 90s, the itch to do it all over again is strong and doing it in Philly would make him go from one of the most disliked players in the city to a hero. That wouldn’t be such a bad way to go out in your career. With Jagr on the east coast and Teemu Selanne out west, those of us that remember the early 90s fondly will have a lot of memories to flash back upon watching these two guys chase the same dream.