Though there wasn’t much doubt, Pierre LeBrun of TSN reports that the Florida Panthers are still talking to Jaromir Jagr about a potential return. The 45-year old remains interested in playing, and the team has been a good fit for him as he closes out his historic career. Jagr is coming off a contract which paid him $4MM in base salary, with up to $1.52MM in performance bonuses.
Jagr has previously stated that he wants to play to 50 (even joking about 60 at one point), and after another effective season in which he put up 46 points he has a chance to do it. Amazingly, his puck-protection style has been able to transcend eras and lockouts and still makes him an excellent possession player, even if his foot speed and straight power game have started to diminish.
The Panthers, looking to bounce back from a disappointing season, will hopefully welcome Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau back for full seasons and with it Jagr’s re-signing could make sense. The Cats don’t have a ton of cap-space to work with, but should be able to fit in a performance-laden contract once again. Since Jagr is (well) over 35, he’s eligible for performance bonuses and should expect them to be a big part of any deal he signs around the league.
As LeBrun points out, any deal with Jagr will have to wait until after the expansion draft as they wouldn’t want to waste a protection slot on the NHL’s second-all-time point leader. At 1,914 points, he doesn’t have anyone left to catch—unless he does play until 60, in which case he’d have an outside shot at catching Wayne Gretzky and his 2,857—but could continue to put himself out of reach of other players in the future. With another full season, he would become the all-time leader in games played; he currently sits at 1,711 just 56 behind Gordie Howe for the record.
Can Jagr please just play forever
Is that not what’s happening?