Dear Mr Jagr,
I hope this letter finds you in good health after that hit you received courtesy of Mr. Ovechkin in the Olympic games. If it doesn't, I wouldn't be surprised. You probably don't remember me. In fact, we've never met... which is why you probably never noticed, but during your tenure as a New York Ranger, you and I never really got along. No matter, that's water under the bridge at this point...(I'd prefer we kept it that way).
In case you're thinking of making a storybook NHL comeback, I want to take this opportunity to point out that the aforementioned hit was a reminder of how much the NHL has changed since your heydays. In fact, as you may remember from your last season, the NHL is quite different and it is indeed quite common for players to be blindsided at open nice and recieve shots to the head from a leaping NHL posterboy that is notorious for leaving his feet on checks. Repurcussions? No, unfortunately...not for him anyway; you however could find yourself the winner in a sweepstakes for a free CAT scan though.
What's that? What if you're more ornery than we all remember and decide you to handle things yourself with some good old frontier style justice? Not likely, I'm afraid...you'd have about .5 seconds to grab on and start swinging before a teammate or several teammates and appointed bodygaurds came to his rescue. In fact your only recourse might be to grab your knee, writhe in pain, start screaming "MY KNEE, MY KNEE!!! I WAS A LEGEND!" and don't stop till he's suspended for about 2 games. Huh? "Intent to injure" should gain a longer suspension? *Snicker* You'll have to excuse me... You'll find that according to the reinterpretations of the NHL rulebook, you were unfortunately posing a threat and asking for that kind of hit, by simply being on the ice at the same time. I know it must sound a little far fetched... but please keep in mind that these interpretations come from the same office that brought expansion teams to most unlikely of places and changed the intepretations on the fly in the middle of the playoffs, because another posterboy goalie didn't like a stick being waved in front of him.
Considering the aforementioned facts, I would urge you to enjoy your KHL based retirement, the money that comes with it, your health and status as a legend in the NHL.
Regards,
J_Undisputed
Are you nuts...
ReplyDeletePlease check out the KHL brawl from this year where Jagr fought diferrent players for 5 minutes.
He isn't what he once was a top 10 forward of all time. He still could play on the second line of any NHL club and post 30/30 numbers. The key for Jagr is the second unit won't play against the top Defensive pairings on opposing clubs. This coupled with tons of forst line PP time would be fantastic. No to the Rangers...How about on the wing with Malkin (Hello Mario, I want to come home)or in Detroit with ZBerg of Datsyuk. Jagr for a one year 5 million dollar contract would be great. Sather shouldn't close this door to quickly as we've seen what Kotalik and Higgins provided.
Bruins4life
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say that I hear your point on him producing more with less attention on him...
The point I was making, was his bell rung by a forward. Granted, it was an high hit at open ice where the checker left his feet... but, there are forwards all over the league throwing checks like Ovechkin and Richards, not just first pair D-men. The disparity between the KHL and the NHL is not as small as Jagrs numbers would have one believe.
Upon his return it takes about 2 months before D-men (any d-men and at least 1 winger)start waiting for him on the doorstep of his favorite spot... after he rounds the back of the net and approaches the circle to the left of the goalie for his turn and shoot.
The question begs to be asked.. How long does Jagr accept this back up role for on the Penguins? This was the guy that sulked because Gomez was earning more than him. My last glimpse of him was him taking the KHL money because he felt we were lowballing him... He'll accept 3rd place on the team at more than 50% pay reduction? I have doubts about whether Jagr could survive more than 3 weeks in the Detroit system. The defensive responsibility asked of the forwards and the linear runs up and down the ice would wear him out midway through the game.
Jagr's stated his first choice to return to the NHL would be Edmonton. Why? You're guess is as good as mine. Maybe he feels Renney's nurturing trumps Quinn's authority. They could concievable afford his asking price if the injured Souray is moved. (please not here)
Also, the brawl he was involved in, I only saw one guy he paired up with.. Darcy Verot. Verot is a fighter and had about 37 games in the NHL. From what I saw, the Jagr front face lock was pretty much it aside from 1 or 2 shots thrown. Jagr easily muscled the Verot who was 3 inches shorter and about 45lbs. lighter.