Jagr Signs with Russian Super League

Jaromir Jagr parted ways with the NY Rangers on Thursday after 3 years in the Big Apple, signing a contract with Omsk Vanguard of the Russian Super League according to reports on the Russian team's website.

No financial details of the deal have been officially announced, but according to media reports Jagr stands to make a cool $35 million over 2 years, with an option for a third. Sounds like that might cover his moving expenses.

Jagr played for Omsk during the 2005 NHL lockout and became a fan favorite for the Hawks.

Jagr had a down year, by his standards, in 2007/2008 scoring only 71 points while adjusting to new line mates after the Rangers lost center Michael Nylander to free agency last summer. He never seemed to mesh with his new centermen - being paired first with Scott Gomez, then Chris Drury and finally Brandon Dubinsky. Had Jagr scored 84 points or more, his contract would have automatically been renewed. Instead the Rangers, who have spent freely in the free agent market (Surprise!!) thus far, acquiring the likes of Wade Redden (D), Dmitri Kalinin (D) and Markus Naslund (F), had informed Jagr that he was no longer part of their future plans.

Jagr led New York to three straight playoff births in his tenure with the Rangers, after the team had missed the post-season 7 straight years prior to his arrival. In 18 NHL seasons Jagr played in 1273 regular season games and notched 1599 points (646 goals, 943 assists). In the playoffs he appeared 169 games and scored 181 points (77 goals and 104 assists). He played in 9 All-Star game, earned 5 Art Ross Trophies (NHL scoring leader), 3 Lester B. Pearson Awards (MVP - as voted on by players) and was named the league MVP (Hart Memorial Trophy - awarded by writers) in 1999.


The NY POST has some quotes from Jagr concerning the move:

"I'm disappointed that I'm not going to be in New York, but I've always believed in my life that things happen for a reason, and that's how I look at this. Coming to the Rangers was great for me, and I owe Glen thanks for making the trade with Washington to bring me here.

"I can't say I regret anything that happened here. We didn't win the Stanley Cup, but there's a lot of luck that goes into that, too, even if you have a great team. Well, I guess I regret that I didn't get 84 points this season. If that had happened, I'd still be here."

"With the contracts for Scotty, Dru and Hank [Henrik Lundqvist], and then signing [Wade] Redden, they have almost $30M in four players, so there wasn't enough for me after that. The Rangers wanted to get better on defense and they spent a lot of money on Redden.

"That's OK. That's what they thought would make them a better team. If I did a better job with Scotty or Dru, it might be different."

"People think that it's better to have a lot of choices, but sometimes having one choice is best because you can't make the wrong one. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I'll make that choice when it's time.

"I want to thank Glen and Tom and the Rangers. I want to thank all the people who supported me. Being in New York was special."

And then there was this zinger:

"And I also want to say to the people like Mike Milbury who made their living by criticizing me all the time, that they can kiss my [butt]."


Stay classy San Diego.

Having Jagr leave for Europe means the end to one of my all time favorite crowd chants to float around the upper deck of the RBC Center:

"Who ate all the pie? Who ate all the pie? Jaromir Jagr you fat bastard you ate all the pie!!"

-m

A few Rangers Blogs:

My Blueshirt Heaven
Hockey Bird
Hockey Rodent
Ranger Land
Blueshirt Bulletin
5-Hole
The Dark Ranger

NHL on Sean Avery Being Sean Avery

There are a lot of words one can use to describe Sean Avery of the NY Rangers.

Let's see...a few that come to mind...

gritty
hard working
instigator
thorn in the side
douchebag
assclown

But even by Avery standards, his performance on Sunday against the Devils was considered by the suits and hats at NHL HQ to be across the line...thus, we now have the Sean Avery Rule. According to an edict handed down from on high (or somewhere near Toronto), (Sir) Colin Campbell, grand poobah of NHL Crimes and Misdemeanors (natch, Senior Executive Vice President and Director of League Operations...yadda yadda yadda), the league has sprung into action to counter this shameful blight on the image of the NHL:

"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play."

Thanks Colin. But while we have you, anything you want to add about violent hits to the head, or excessive boarding that leads to injury? ... Colin? ... Hello?...Ok, I guess we've lost Colin.

While I have often expressed concern over the NHL "making up the rules as they go along", I have to applaud them in this case. Sean Avery definitely deserves to have an unsportsmanlike conduct rule named after him.

Don't get me wrong, the guy is a heck of a player (and has possibly the single greatest head shot on any team's roster), who plays with an edge and is incredibly effective for his team. Since he arrived from the LA Kings in a trade last year, the Rangers are 50-20-6 with Avery in the line-up and 9-13-3 in games that he's missed. It's just too bad that he crosses the line between effective instigator and clownish asshat so often. There are a lot of guys in the league that I love to hate, but would love to have on my team. I would not want Sean Avery on my team (or at least that's my position from my current perch of sactimony!).

I'll let the legendary Don Cherry sum it up for me:

I've known this kid since he was about 16 years old," Cherry told Toronto radio station The FAN 590. "Once a jerk, always a jerk. You can't blame the referee, because . he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Could you believe what you were seeing? I've never seen anything like that and I've been in every league that's ever existed."