By Jordan Long
The Calgary Flames have signed 45 year old right winger Jaromir Jagr to a deal. The contract is for one year and will pay him $1 million but he could earn another $1 million in bonuses. What kind of move is this for the Flames?
Jagr will be entering his 24th season in the NHL. Last season he showed he could still play at a high level with 16 goals and 30 assists for a total of 46 points in a Florida Panthers’ uniform. Jagr is still valuable on the power play with a total of 8 goals and 5 assists.
Once the season was over, the Panthers decided not to renew his contract. They were trying to be a younger, faster team. Jagr had offers to go back and play in his home country of the Czech Republic but he still had the desire to play in the NHL. In the summer, there weren’t a lot of teams interested in him because of his age. This past weekend, the St. Louis Blues talked to him, but Jagr declined. The Flames agreed to a deal with him.
Calgary is hoping to improve on last year when they made the playoffs as the 2nd Wild Card team with a record of 45-33-4 for a total of 94 points. In the playoffs, they were swept in the 1st round by the Anaheim Ducks. The reason Calgary made the playoffs was their power play. The Flames were 10th in the NHL on the power play at 20.2%. This year the Flames are hoping to go further than the 1st round.
Jagr brings 23 years of NHL experience to the Flames. He will help them on both full strength and power play opportunities. On full strength Jagr isn’t the fastest skater but will use his speed to score goals and find his teammates. On the power play he is able to screen the goaltender for tip-ins and will be around the net for rebounds. If Jagr isn’t able to score, he will feed his teammates near the goal for them to score.
The Flames seem to be in excellent shape to go back to the postseason. The only way this contract for Jagr doesn’t work is if Calgary fails to make the playoffs and Jagr has a poor year. If that happens, they could let Jagr go since he only has a one year deal. On paper this seems like a decent contract.
What do you think of the Calgary Flames agreeing to a contract with Jaromir Jagr?
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