(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Rob Riches, Sports Talk Philly staff
On the NHL calendar, radio silence is quite common around this time of year. Training camps and preseason hockey are roughly a month away, most of the hockeysphere has headed to cottages/other vacation destinations for the summer and players are training for the daily grind that will be here before they know it.
Nearly six weeks ago, the free agent market opened, kicking off the usual frenzy. But as is the case every year, some free agents remain unsigned. Longtime players like Shane Doan and Jarome Iginla are still available, and serviceable vets like Cody Franson and Drew Stafford remained unsigned as well. The biggest name, though, is Jaromir Jagr.
No. 2 on the NHL's all-time points list with 1,914, Jagr is coming off a two-and-a-half season stint with Florida. Currently at the age of 45, Jagr has remained one of the game's most affable personalities, and while not the dominant on-ice gamebreaker he once was, he has looked significantly younger on the ice. In 2016-17, he did finish with 11 fewer goals (16) and 20 fewer points (46) than in the season prior, but the Panthers were a mess of their own — something not his fault in the slightest. Supposedly, Jagr had a deal in place to return to the Panthers, but a deal was taken off the table by the club.
On the surface, it almost seems heartbreaking. One of the game's all-time prolific players without a team for the next season when he still has some gas in the tank. But as heartbreaking as it may seem, it's not a situation the Flyers should consider bringing an end to.
While it certainly was fun watching Jagr return to the NHL with the Flyers in the 2011-12 season (at the expense of the Penguins, no less, when they were expecting a reunion), times have since changed. It made sense to a degree at that point, but now, only a handful of Flyers from that team remain. Sure, it's hard to pass on a dynamic personality like Jagr, but it's the right thing to do.
As it currently stands, the Orange and Black have Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Dale Weise and Matt Read listed as right wingers. Aside from Simmonds and Voracek, it's not exactly a murderer's row. Once training camp opens, though, the position battle at both wings will be interesting.
With Oskar Lindblom jumping over from across the pond, he figures to find a spot on the wing. In the (all-too-likely) event Nolan Patrick cracks the big club, one of Valtteri Filppula or Jori Lehtera will have to move aside. And depending how the battle between Scott Laughton and Mike Vecchione for the fourth-line center spot goes, one of those players will find himself on the wing. The Flyers' logjam of centers has been well documented for several seasons, and naturally, it has to spill over onto both wing positions.
Signing Jagr could crunch the Flyers up against the salary cap, as well. His previous salary counted for $4 million against the Panthers' cap, though signing a contract this late in the offseason would be significantly cheaper. Currently, the Flyers have $5.103 million in cap space (per nhlnumbers.com), so while Jagr could, in theory, fit under the cap, having some extra space doesn't hurt the Flyers in the slightest. Remember all that work Ron Hextall did to untangle the Flyers out of the salary-cap hell Paul Holmgren put them in? It's nice to have extra space!
Lest we not forget, the Flyers are still a young club, and their rebuild is very much in progress. As young players like Patrick and Lindblom vie for roster spots (not to mention players like Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg and Travis Sanheim), it's on them to figure their roles out. Younger players like Travis Konecny and Jordan Weal will look to expand their role in the offense, and bringing Jagr aboard subtracts a role for the kids on a developing club.
Jagr's time in Florida was spent with a burgeoning young club, one featuring the likes of young guns like Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad, Vincent Trochek and Aleksander Barkov. While he's enjoyed the chance to mentor the young kids — kids who weren't even alive when Jagr started his NHL career! — at this point, it makes sense for Jagr to head to a contending team. Let him get one last crack at a Stanley Cup, and get set to wrap up his career the way it started out.
Though no teams are knocking on his door for, save for the occasional seriously-non-serious interest, Jagr still has his options. He can make a return to the Kontinental Hockey League where he played from 2008-11, or to HC Kladno in Czech Republic's second-tier league, a team he owns. Even if it's not the most ideal situation, he'll keep playing. On the NHL side? Maybe a team like the Vegas Golden Knights — Jagr can give instant credibility to an expansion team (something Marc-Andre Fleury is working on), while continuing to play in a warm-weather destination he seems to enjoy.
While it's strange and peculiar to see Jaromir Jagr without a contract in hand at this point in the offseason, make no mistake, he will lace the skates up in the 2017-18 season. We haven't seen the last of him, and his legendary career will go on and continue to stand the test of time. But a return to the Flyers shouldn't be in his plans. There are plenty of destinations in the NHL that would make sense to pick up Jagr, but Philadelphia is not one of them.
