There was some people (media too), who questioned moving on from Jagr because of the chemistry between those three and how it would affect HB performance. Yes, a permanent fix for that RW still remains as a mystery, but HB have proven that they're good enough on their own that they don't need great chemistry with the third wheel and can still put up numbers.
It was more of that HB adapted to the game Jagr was able to play, than Jagr playing up to HB's full potential.
You can see this year how much more free they are to operate, when they aren't chained down to one type of offense.
I don't ever think Jagr made that line, HB are way too good on their own to be a result of Jagr. Jagr was a nice piece that fit well.
I think the problem is that Huby and Barkov both have extremely high hockey IQs and nobody else on the team can cycle and maintain possession like they can, move the puck at their level, etc., even Tro isn't a good fit for them.
Jagr was able to mesh well and allow that line to dominate possession and completely run circles around other teams in the o-zone because of his IQ and cycle game which matched well with HB.
Even with Hubs and Barkov this year we don't see that line dominate possession as much like we did when they had Jagr. HB are good enough without Jagr but we need either a Jagr type (rare/non existent) or a legit trigger man with high hockey IQ (Borg (might be better fit with Tro)? Tippet?(trigger man) Hepo (not a trigger man but he can shoot and his iq is stellar))?.
To be fair, not many teams have three legit first line players on one line.
