|
Jaromir Jagr |
Games
|
Goals
|
Assists
|
Points
|
+/-
|
PIM
|
|
Regular Season
|
82
|
30
|
66
|
96
|
+26
|
78
|
|
Playoffs
|
10
|
5
|
6
|
11
|
+6
|
12
|
Sorry about the delay in getting this one up here. As you can see, I am using the updated version of Excel, and its taking me a while getting used to this.
As Jagr goes, so go the Rangers. You’ve said it, I’ve said it, we’ve all said it, which probably means its true. When Jaromir struggled in the beginning of the season, and really through the middle of it as well, we weren’t winning many games. When he started scoring, we started winning. I suppose what that really means is the guys shoulder was hurting him a ton more than most of us thought. As the season wore on, instead of getting more banged up, he seemed to get stronger.
Simply put Jaromir is the 2nd most important guy on this team, and this year it will be extremely important that he come out the gate with a bang. Let’s face it, we’ve had a lot of turnover in the offensive end of things. Even though it is only 2 players, really we are replacing the face of the top 3 lines. Thats big. That also probably means that players aren’t going to come out the gate guns-a-blazing, which means scoring goals in the beginning might be a bit of a patchwork job. But eventually the Rangers will start scoring goals, lets face it, they have a lethal lineup on paper, and should be among the top 5 teams in terms of goals scored AND in terms of goals allowed. The latter part there is the key to why Jaromirs overall score is so low. He simply doesn’t play defense. The only time he plays defense is when he has the puck and is playing defense by playing offense. It’s ok though, I honestly don’t care if he plays defense, as long as hes controlling the puck, dominating the play, and is putting the puck in the net.
Lets face it guy, Jaromir Jagr is a generational talent. Hes a legendary offensive player with skills that make your eyes pop out of the sockets. He is also a physical anomaly. He is just enormous, with tremendous lower body strength, and unbelievable, nearly ungodly balance. This also leads to less than favorable reffing when it comes to the big guy, because he refuses to dive (which is something I LOVE about his game). Guys cling on to him like his jersey is coated in superglue, and they just don’t let go. If the game was called against him like it is against the rest of the league, Jaromir would be drawing a penalty almost every other shift out there. As it is, he is lucky to draw one or two a game.
Jaromir does have a tendancy to take stupid lazy penalties, and he tends to get flustered when things aren’t going his way out there, but despite these relatively mild deficiencies hes still the most dominating right wing on the planet.
I expect HUGE things from Jaromir this year. With the offense being spread out, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a career year. Are 65 goals and 90 assists out of the realm of possibility? I don’t know, but if he scored something insane like that, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit. And if he doesn’t I could guarantee you that means the rest of the team is scoring like crazy, because this team is too loaded for you to just key on Jaromir all the time.
-Inferno