Remembering Jaromir Jagr’s Year with the Flyers

In 2011, the Flyers signed what many people considered to be a washed-up relic of a player to a one-year $3.3 million contract. He was 39 and hadn’t played in the NHL for four years, having spent those years in the KHL.

All he did was score 19 goals with 35 assists; good for fifth highest in goals and third overall in points, behind Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell, his line mates. Jaromir Jagr showed he still had some gas in the tank and was one of the best free agent signings the Flyers had in the last 10 decades.

First, some perspective. Jagr was a titan in the NHL. He was a scoring behemoth. He was a Penguin. And much like today’s legendary scoring Penguin, Sidney Crosby, he was easy to despise and boo. It also didn’t help that after leaving the Pens, he played for equally hated teams like the Capitals and the Rangers.  When the Rangers didn’t re-sign him, or most likely match his asking price, he took his talents to Russia and the KHL.

Four years later, he expressed an interest in returning to the NHL. He had some offers, but again, what does a 39 year old have left?

I’ve stated before the numbers he put up. Those may have been pedestrian numbers for Jagr at the time, but still pretty good stats otherwise. Even more so, he teamed up with Giroux and Hartnell. That season Hartnell put up his career best in goals and points scored. For Giroux, it would be his best season to date, only topped by his 2017-18 campaign when he tallied 102.

In Jagr, Giroux found a mentor; a player whose leadership he would emulate years later. Players often talked about how Jagr would be the first one in the gym, the first one on the ice, and the last player to leave both. Despite the fact that he was a superstar in the past, he still strived to be the best player he could and the best teammate he could. Both Giroux and Hartnell have spoken about how he helped to elevate their play.

That season, the Flyers fell, once again, in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the New Jersey Devils in five games. Jagr scored just one playoff point. In the offseason, little to no effort was made to re-sign him. He would sign with Dallas and then later Boston, New Jersey, Florida, and Calgary.  He would make one more all-star appearance, which was memorable as PK Subban dressed up as Jagr.

Jagr is 50 years old now. He hasn’t played in the NHL since 2018. He is still an active player, playing in the Czech League where he still performs. You kind of wonder had he never spent time in the KHL, what would his NHL stats be? A quick look, being on the cheap side of 20 goals each in those four years, puts him about 50 goals shy of Wayne Gretzky.

Forty assists a year for those years would put him firmly in second place, however about 500 assists away from the Great One. And while he is still in second place all time in points, he would’ve become the second player to reach the 2000 point mark.

Still, you wonder what would have been/could have been had the Flyers re-signed him. Could he have helped to mentor guys like Scott Laughton and Sean Couturier into being even better players than they are now? How much more could Giroux have elevated his game earlier on? Would that have lead to more playoff success than we have seen?

He meshed well with his teammates and helped propel them to great seasons. Yes, he would’ve been 40 at that point, but he had several years of good hockey left to play. Maybe the Flyers would’ve gone further in the playoffs over the next few years. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered. A lot of Flyers fans would’ve loved to have seen him in orange and black for another go at it though.