Jagr a Devil Part II: May be an Alien Edition

[JimEIV]

We will just have to agree to disagree .

Don't do that! Tell him why he's wrong! It's the summer - any hockey talk is good hockey talk...

The last couple of mornings had that crisp in the air...And I am going crazy for Fall...It happens right around the 3rd week of August every year. But there is no football yet, Dunkin-Doughnuts hasn't released their pumpkin coffee yet, people are still heading to the beaches, Tom Guilitti is on vacation and there no hockey!


So for my sanity entertain the argument.

 

[glenwo2]

He is something special and I am glad he is a Devil and enjoys being on this team.

I echo this sentiment.

 

[Czech Your Math]

I maintain my stance that expecting Jagr to score 70+ points this season is silly. I hope he proves me wrong, but it's silly.

I smell an avatar bet.

 

[Burner Account]

I smell an avatar bet.

I'm not doing any bets on HFBoards.

I made one against SteveCangialosi123 or whatever his name is. He lost and was supposed to delete his account and did not honor it.

 

[livewell68]

I'm not doing any bets on HFBoards.

I made one against SteveCangialosi123 or whatever his name is. He lost and was supposed to delete his account and did not honor it.

You don't have to take it that far, you can make a friendly bet and depending on who wins or loses, they would have to change their avatar and or signature.

The moderators can also help to ensure the promise is kept.

 

[rrekaj13]

I'm not doing any bets on HFBoards.

I made one against SteveCangialosi123 or whatever his name is. He lost and was supposed to delete his account and did not honor it.

That's a bit extreme, no?

 

[Burner Account]

You don't have to take it that far, you can make a friendly bet and depending on who wins or loses, they would have to change their avatar and or signature.

The moderators can also help to ensure the promise is kept.

No they can't.

That's a bit extreme, no?

He was pretty confident.

 

[Deleted member 28548]

I maintain my stance that expecting Jagr to score 70+ points this season is silly. I hope he proves me wrong, but it's silly.

I'm with you on this as well. Time has a way of catching up with everyone.

 

[Bleedred]

I think he has at least one pretty good season left in him, before significantly cooling off.

I expected a decent regression this year, but I think having a real winger will help wash it out.

 

[glenwo2]

I think he has at least one pretty good season left in him, before significantly cooling off.

I expected a decent regression this year, but I think having a real winger will help wash it out.

With Jagr, though, we'll never truly know if he regresses until we see it happen during his play.

Jagr is such an alien, though, that it seems like he's gotten more effective since coming back from the KHL.

 

[jagrgodr]

I am honestly just happy that Jagr has a "home" and he isn't bouncing around the league. I reaallllllly hope the devils do well this year and will not have to trade him at the deadline. Summer can't end fast enough!

As for how many points he will get.. FACTS: Missed training camp, took 10 games to build chemistry with some players and the last 5-10 games of the season didn't even really matter since they were pretty much out of the playoffs most of the last games.. so if you look at the middle 60 games he did really well.

Barring an injury, it seems like a no brainer he will score 60 points. He will have zajac back and will have his buddy zidlicky to feed him the puck on the power play. Maybe the coach will experiment with putting Jagr's line with Zidlicky's in non power play situations and he will do even better. I am so tired of seeing the coach put out Salvador while Jagr is on the ice.

Jagr is like a KOVY light. He wants the minutes and wants to be the go to guy to win the game and he thinks he can still do it.. so build a supporting cast (like they could be with cammy on the left wing) and i honestly think 70-80 points is possible. He almost had 70 points coming to a new team and struggling to find chemistry and being depressed the team wasn't making the playoffs.

You guys all watched Jagr play last year... he is far from done. He is a living legend. It seems clear that no one wants to severely injure Jagr, he has soooo much respect throughout the league no one is taking crazy big shots at him. And even if someone does try that he is so large he can easily absorb the hit. He also gets away with SOOOO many penalties because the refs also respect him so much. Jagr gets away with 2-4 penalties a game, he plays so aggressively.

With all things considered, 80 points is very possible.

 

[JimEIV]

If Jagr has an 80 point season ...

Well, I will be surprised lets just say that...

Because in order for Jagr to do 80 Zajac will have to be in 60+ range, probably more like 65-ish..again I would be very surprised.

And if Jagr scores 80 points we will have the best regular season we've had in a while.

I don't really see it happening, not saying impossible but very unlikely.

 

[Czech Your Math]

If Jagr has an 80 point season ...

Well, I will be surprised lets just say that...

Because in order for Jagr to do 80 Zajac will have to be in 60+ range, probably more like 65-ish..again I would be very surprised.

And if Jagr scores 80 points we will have the best regular season we've had in a while.

I don't really see it happening, not saying impossible but very unlikely.

Not saying he'll score 80... but there's a long list of players who had career years on Jagr's line: Francis, Hrdina, Miller, Straka, Nylander, Giroux, Hartnell, etc. Zajac has hit 60-65+ points a couple times in his career, why not again with the talent on his wings?

 

[Zippy316]

I am honestly just happy that Jagr has a "home" and he isn't bouncing around the league. I reaallllllly hope the devils do well this year and will not have to trade him at the deadline. Summer can't end fast enough!

As for how many points he will get.. FACTS: Missed training camp, took 10 games to build chemistry with some players and the last 5-10 games of the season didn't even really matter since they were pretty much out of the playoffs most of the last games.. so if you look at the middle 60 games he did really well.

Barring an injury, it seems like a no brainer he will score 60 points. He will have zajac back and will have his buddy zidlicky to feed him the puck on the power play. Maybe the coach will experiment with putting Jagr's line with Zidlicky's in non power play situations and he will do even better. I am so tired of seeing the coach put out Salvador while Jagr is on the ice.

Jagr is like a KOVY light. He wants the minutes and wants to be the go to guy to win the game and he thinks he can still do it.. so build a supporting cast (like they could be with cammy on the left wing) and i honestly think 70-80 points is possible. He almost had 70 points coming to a new team and struggling to find chemistry and being depressed the team wasn't making the playoffs.

You guys all watched Jagr play last year... he is far from done. He is a living legend. It seems clear that no one wants to severely injure Jagr, he has soooo much respect throughout the league no one is taking crazy big shots at him. And even if someone does try that he is so large he can easily absorb the hit. He also gets away with SOOOO many penalties because the refs also respect him so much. Jagr gets away with 2-4 penalties a game, he plays so aggressively.

With all things considered, 80 points is very possible.

My favorite was when Jagr looked to the point, saw an open Salvador or Volchenkov, and then refused to pass it to them.

I laughed every time.

 

[JimEIV]

My favorite was when Jagr looked to the point, saw an open Salvador or Volchenkov, and then refused to pass it to them.

I laughed every time.

Great players ways know where the puck is going and where it should go...no matter how old Jagr gets that won't change... but here is a question:

If a team offered a 1st round pick in 2015 for Jagr, do you trade him?

Yes or No. No qualifications like - "if in a playoff spot or not", just yes or no.

I say yes.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Great players ways know where the puck is going and where it should go...no matter how old Jagr gets that won't change... but here is a question:

If a team offered a 1st round pick in 2015 for Jagr, do you trade him?

Yes or No. No qualifications like - "if in a playoff spot or not", just yes or no.

I say yes.

when? at the deadline?

yes, I would.

 

[Missionhockey]

Great players ways know where the puck is going and where it should go...no matter how old Jagr gets that won't change... but here is a question:

If a team offered a 1st round pick in 2015 for Jagr, do you trade him?

Yes or No. No qualifications like - "if in a playoff spot or not", just yes or no.

I say yes.

Doesn't that dictate the response though? Especially in the Devils organization, there is no way Lou doesn't go for the playoff spot if they have a chance. That's part of creating a winning culture.

 

[AfroThunder396]

If Jagr has an 80 point season ...

Well, I will be surprised lets just say that...

Because in order for Jagr to do 80 Zajac will have to be in 60+ range, probably more like 65-ish..again I would be very surprised.

And if Jagr scores 80 points we will have the best regular season we've had in a while.

I don't really see it happening, not saying impossible but very unlikely.

I think 55 points is a fair expectation from Zajac. That's pretty much what his pace was playing with Jagr this year (44 points in 66 games on the same line).

I guess it depends on how well Cammalleri gels on that line, but I don't think 60 points would be a huge surprise.

 

[MountainGoat]

if we traded Jagr last year at the deadline I doubt we would have been able to re-sign him for this season

 

[Czech Your Math]

My favorite was when Jagr looked to the point, saw an open Salvador or Volchenkov, and then refused to pass it to them.

I laughed every time.

It's sort of like pausing and staring at that lead-footed runner on first base. It's more of a habit and tends to keep the opposition honest, but everyone knows nothing is happening in that direction.

 

[livewell68]

I think 55 points is a fair expectation from Zajac. That's pretty much what his pace was playing with Jagr this year (44 points in 66 games on the same line).

I guess it depends on how well Cammalleri gels on that line, but I don't think 60 points would be a huge surprise.

Zajac's pace last year was also after only becoming Jagr's full time center around the 20-30 game mark. Jagr has a very particular way of playing and demands a certain style from his linemates. There was still an acclamation period that took place for Zajac and Jagr. It took a good dozen games for them to really get a good feel of each other's games and even then, early on in their chemistry experiment, Zajac missed capitalizing on many great passes that Jagr set him up with that would have given Zajac an extra 5-6 goals and Jagr an extra 5-6 assists not to mention the fact that if Zajac converted more of Jagr's passes, opposing players would have respected Zajac more and freed more space up for Jagr which would have given more chances to score goals himself. Maybe Zajac is not a natural goal scorer but a lot of those misses were because he and Jagr didn't get each other as well. Jagr plays the game differently than anyone else, his game is vastly different than Kovy or Parise's games were. This will be a different year.

Most are making projections for Zajac based on last year and Jagr based on last year and the assumption he will regress based on his age.

No one seems to be valuing what chemistry and having a whole year to play together will do for them this season. Jagr has said it over and over again how important chemistry and line stability is for him and his linemates. Why do you folks think Jagr went from 96 Pts (despite playing through a seriously repaired shooting arm shoulder) in 2006-07 to scoring just 71 Pts in 2007-08? The biggest factor was he lost his centerman Nylander (he didn't so much regress since he had 15 Pts in 10 playoff games that year).

Cammalleri is not the x-factor that everyone is saying he is either. There were times last season when Zajac and Jagr looked dominant together regardless of who their LW was. Chemistry is extremely important but of course having Cammalleri won't hurt them and will just boost that line's offense.

That is what lends me to believe that Jagr's numbers will go up if he remains healthy (by about 5-15 Pts) while Zajac's numbers will go up too. I see Jagr hitting 30 goals and Zajac hitting 20 goals this season.

 

[glenwo2]

Great players ways know where the puck is going and where it should go...no matter how old Jagr gets that won't change... but here is a question:

If a team offered a 1st round pick in 2015 for Jagr, do you trade him?

Yes or No. No qualifications like - "if in a playoff spot or not", just yes or no.

I say yes.

Depends on what we get back in return.

Frankly, we can't avoid the "qualifications" that you said not to mention, Jim, because it absolutely depends on if the Devils are in the playoff chase or not. If not, it's likely they would try to find him a team Playoff-bound.

 

[DenisSamson3]

Is Jagr now sponsored by Huawei? Anyone that understands Czech, can you explain this video?

 

[AfroThunder396]

Zajac's pace last year was also after only becoming Jagr's full time center around the 20-30 game mark. Jagr has a very particular way of playing and demands a certain style from his linemates. There was still an acclamation period that took place for Zajac and Jagr. It took a good dozen games for them to really get a good feel of each other's games and even then, early on in their chemistry experiment, Zajac missed capitalizing on many great passes that Jagr set him up with that would have given Zajac an extra 5-6 goals and Jagr an extra 5-6 assists not to mention the fact that if Zajac converted more of Jagr's passes, opposing players would have respected Zajac more and freed more space up for Jagr which would have given more chances to score goals himself. Maybe Zajac is not a natural goal scorer but a lot of those misses were because he and Jagr didn't get each other as well. Jagr plays the game differently than anyone else, his game is vastly different than Kovy or Parise's games were. This will be a different year.

Most are making projections for Zajac based on last year and Jagr based on last year and the assumption he will regress based on his age.

No one seems to be valuing what chemistry and having a whole year to play together will do for them this season. Jagr has said it over and over again how important chemistry and line stability is for him and his linemates. Why do you folks think Jagr went from 96 Pts (despite playing through a seriously repaired shooting arm shoulder) in 2006-07 to scoring just 71 Pts in 2007-08? The biggest factor was he lost his centerman Nylander (he didn't so much regress since he had 15 Pts in 10 playoff games that year).

Cammalleri is not the x-factor that everyone is saying he is either. There were times last season when Zajac and Jagr looked dominant together regardless of who their LW was. Chemistry is extremely important but of course having Cammalleri won't hurt them and will just boost that line's offense.

That is what lends me to believe that Jagr's numbers will go up if he remains healthy (by about 5-15 Pts) while Zajac's numbers will go up too. I see Jagr hitting 30 goals and Zajac hitting 20 goals this season.

That's pretty much what I was trying to say. With or without Cammalleri those two are going to produce, but if they can find chemistry we can have a legitimate top line. Right now we only have two out of three pieces. That third player opens up so many more options for the other two guys. The LW will determine whether they're a really good two-way line or a bonafide first line that can go punch for punch with anyone in the league.

 

[NJDevilsFan21]

Is Jagr now sponsored by Huawei? Anyone that understands Czech, can you explain this video?

Jagr should donate some of his blood for research dedicated to anti-aging.