Florida Panthers: 2017-18 Season Could Be The Last For Jaromir Jagr

The Florida Panthers will need to re-sign Jagr for at least another season. Until we find a replacement, Jaromir will stay put on are top line.

Going into the off-season, Jaromir Jagr is once again an unrestricted free agent. At age 45, Jagr will continue to receive one year deals. As incredible as he’s been (considering his age), we must ask ourselves: How much longer will he remain on the team? The answer to that would be not much longer.

Jaromir has honestly been a joy to watch. Not only is he an important leader in the dressing room, but he still has the ability to play top minutes. At his age, you’d think that Jagr would have hung the skates by now. Most or if not all would, but not him! Jaromir prepares himself accordingly before each and every game, making sure that he is equipped with proper nutrition and liquids (drinks). Heck, after a game against the Flyers, Jagr continued working out at 1:30 am claiming that ” he still had energy left”

Jagr began by stating this: “1:30 in the morning, still working … ended the game, but I still have enough energy, so I went to the gym … playoffs coming up, so I gotta be ready, I don’t want to embarrass … And I added one more vest.” When he refers to the “vest”, the vest is something you put on when working out. It adds more weight onto your body, pushing you to use your more strength.

He ended off the interview by saying: “You know that if you want to be better than the opponent, you have to work [train] when he’s asleep. All rivals – good night. :))))” Honestly, this is hilarious, especially coming from Jagr. All jokes aside though, his commitment to staying in “tip-top shape” is second to none. Jaromir has the mentality of a legend, and will go down as one.

Apart from his commitment, his stats haven’t been bad at all. In fact, they’ve been great. Jagr’s stats may have dropped from 66 points in 2015-16 to 46 points in 2016-17, but he was without his line mates (Huberdeau and Barkov). Without any of those 3 together, you can’t really expect much from them individually. They all compliment each other and are familiar to each others game.

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It’s also interesting to note that his CF% went up by 5% this year. During the 2015-16 season, Jagr ended the year with a CF% of 50.27%. Barely cracking 50%. It’s also worth noting that he was with Huby and Barkov for the entire year. Fast forward to the following year (2016-17), in which Jaromir ended with a CF% of 55.12%. That’s very good considering that his CF% went up during the year that Barkov and Huberdeau went down with injury. Another part that we must consider is that he was forced to shoot more, seeing that he was without line mates.

Seeing how bad we were defensively this year, Jagr boasted a GA60 (Goals Against Per 60 Minutes) of 2.28. On the other hand, his GF60 (Goals For Per 60 Minutes) was 2.82. The majority of our players had higher GA60’s then GF60’s. Jagr was one of the few exceptions. Having a higher GF60 then GA60 means that you are scoring at a higher rate then allowing goals in. One last metric I wanted to point out was his SCF60 and his SCA60.

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For those of you who don’t know what those two metrics are, I will explain. SCF60 stands for scoring chances for (per 60 minutes), while SCA60 means scoring chances against (per 60 minutes). Jagr’s SCF60 was 8.24, while his SCA60 was only 7.21. So, what does this mean? This means that per 60 minutes of play, Jaromir is on the end of more scoring chances going forward (attacking) then he is having scoring chances go against him and his line.

The top line RW position will be a question after next season (if Jagr re-signs this summer). Unfortunately, Huby and Barkov cannot play with Jagr forever and a replacement will be needed sooner rather than later. Jaromir knows that every season that he plays in could realistically be his last. It’s important that we find a replacement for Jagr as soon as we can, whether it be through trade or free agency. Regardless of what happens with Jagr, we should all appreciate and cherish the remaining moments he will give to us. A legend, indeed.

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