In a season where things haven't gone exactly, erm, as planned for the New Jersey Devils, many have pointed to Jaromir Jagr's production as one of the few bright spots. And it's true, to some extent. Jagr leads the team in points for the second season in a row. Sure, "leading the team" isn't saying much for a team with just 1 other player who's amassed more than 20 points, but in a year after tallying 67 points (the highest total since Ilya Kovalchuk's 83 points in 2012) people are more than satisfied with Jagr's contributions.
While many people are blown away by how a 42 year old continues to excel in this sport, it's no secret how Jagr has kept this up. First and foremost, his dedication to staying in shape is unrivalled. The 21 season veteran is often seen staying on the ice after practice working on his skating, shooting, and stickhandling. He's been a leader the past several seasons and younger players have looked up to this sort of dedication. Additionally, the 6'3, 230 lb. forward still has the size that can make it so hard for opponents to defend against. Add that along with his above-average shot and terrific hockey sense, it's no wonder how this clock keeps ticking.
Here's the thing though.
Has Jagr actually been that good this season?
Sure, people can point to the points totals and say "he leads the team in scoring" and it would be case closed. But he's only on pace for 49 points this season, which would be the lowest total in his career. Even when Jagr spent most of a season in Dallas in 2013, a year in which many agreed Jagr looked worse than usual, the aging star still totalled 26 points in 34 games before being shipped to Boston where he picked up his "dominance".
The fact of the matter is, that while Jagr's hands, shot, and hockey IQ are still with him, his speed is not. And that's what is slowly becoming his downfall.
As I noted earlier, many hockey writers and analysts still praise the scoring and character of the older man but they're not looking at the right things. They're looking at the boxscore. They're not every shift. They see the highlights. Maybe they do see a few shifts Jagr takes. But for every goal they see him score, there are another few plays in a game where you question whether the man drafted in 1990 still has much left in the tank.
Giveaways tell a very cautionary tale when it comes to statskeeping in the NHL. Firstly, the NHL real-time statisticians are different in every NHL arena so a hit in one game may not be considered a hit in a different rink. Perhaps the most obvious of inconsistencies is out of Long Islanders where, for the past few seasons, Islanders would be given almost unbelievable hits statistics.
So not only are giveaways not always a good depiction for a player, but there's a debate from the advanced statistics society that giveaways aren't necessarily a bad stat for a player. Advanced statistics are all about puck possession and these new-age advanced stats fellas point out that in order to have a lot of giveaways, you need to have the puck. Therefore, if a player has a significant amount of turnovers you can say "well if you have the puck on your stick for the majority of the night, you're bound to give it up a few times." They think that not only is it not an indication for a player's weak performance but it could even portray the player as one who drives possession, a good trait.
But the fact of the matter is that Jaromir Jagr is on pace to lead the Devils (as a forward) in giveaways for the second season in a row. And it's not really close.
Firstly, observing the box scores from this season, it appears that the person in charge of keeping track of real-time stats in New Jersey tends to low-ball the final numbers, so the figures could be even worse than they are.
So how bad are Jagr's numbers?
Let's just say that Ilya "turnover-machine" Kovalchuk aside, no Devil has really turned the puck over as much as Jagr in the past 6 or 7 years.
He's on pace for 57 giveaways this season a year after finishing with 59. His 29 giveaways in 41 games puts him at 16th highest in the NHL amongst forwards. His 59 last year, coincidentally, also put him at 16th most in the league amongst forwards.
This should come as no surprise to Devils fans as Jagr's moves and finesse are simply failing him this year. He would try to deke around these 25 year old defenseman who just strip the puck from him easily. It's almost sad to watch some nights as his once dominant stickhandling is now starting to fail him.
Another area of the game where Jagr's speed has really hurt him is defensively, where he's falling behind the speedy puck carriers and tries making desperation plays from behind.
Guess who leads all Devils forwards in minors this season?
The same player who lead all NJ forwards last season.
He also sits 10th amongst all NHL forwards.
He's on pace for 31 minor penalties, a total that hasn't been seen in New Jersey in over 5 seasons.
Jagr has 1 hold (usually a lazy penalty), 2 trips (occasionally a lazy penalty), 3 interferences (potentially a lazy penalty), and 10 hooking penalties (almost universally a lazy penalty). For a player who's lost a step, you have to make up for the slowness. Jagr's getting caught being lazy almost every time.
There's no question that Jagr definitely adds something to this team. He's one of the few goal scorers on this otherwise non-threatening roster that can fill the net somewhat-effectively. He's a delight to have on the team as fans and media can't get enough of him.
But he's beginning to hurt the team.
On January 2nd, the Montreal Canadiens were in New Jersey. With the Devils trailing 1-0 late in the 2nd period, Jagr loses the puck right at the Devils blue line sending it the other way.
The Canadiens start a rush into the Devils zone and, trying to catch up to the playing, Jagr has to hook a Montreal player to make it back.
Montreal would score on the ensuing powerplay, go up 2-0 and eventually win the game by 2 goals.
While many people are blown away by how a 42 year old continues to excel in this sport, it's no secret how Jagr has kept this up. First and foremost, his dedication to staying in shape is unrivalled. The 21 season veteran is often seen staying on the ice after practice working on his skating, shooting, and stickhandling. He's been a leader the past several seasons and younger players have looked up to this sort of dedication. Additionally, the 6'3, 230 lb. forward still has the size that can make it so hard for opponents to defend against. Add that along with his above-average shot and terrific hockey sense, it's no wonder how this clock keeps ticking.
Has Jagr actually been that good this season?
Sure, people can point to the points totals and say "he leads the team in scoring" and it would be case closed. But he's only on pace for 49 points this season, which would be the lowest total in his career. Even when Jagr spent most of a season in Dallas in 2013, a year in which many agreed Jagr looked worse than usual, the aging star still totalled 26 points in 34 games before being shipped to Boston where he picked up his "dominance".
The fact of the matter is, that while Jagr's hands, shot, and hockey IQ are still with him, his speed is not. And that's what is slowly becoming his downfall.
As I noted earlier, many hockey writers and analysts still praise the scoring and character of the older man but they're not looking at the right things. They're looking at the boxscore. They're not every shift. They see the highlights. Maybe they do see a few shifts Jagr takes. But for every goal they see him score, there are another few plays in a game where you question whether the man drafted in 1990 still has much left in the tank.
Giveaways tell a very cautionary tale when it comes to statskeeping in the NHL. Firstly, the NHL real-time statisticians are different in every NHL arena so a hit in one game may not be considered a hit in a different rink. Perhaps the most obvious of inconsistencies is out of Long Islanders where, for the past few seasons, Islanders would be given almost unbelievable hits statistics.
So not only are giveaways not always a good depiction for a player, but there's a debate from the advanced statistics society that giveaways aren't necessarily a bad stat for a player. Advanced statistics are all about puck possession and these new-age advanced stats fellas point out that in order to have a lot of giveaways, you need to have the puck. Therefore, if a player has a significant amount of turnovers you can say "well if you have the puck on your stick for the majority of the night, you're bound to give it up a few times." They think that not only is it not an indication for a player's weak performance but it could even portray the player as one who drives possession, a good trait.
But the fact of the matter is that Jaromir Jagr is on pace to lead the Devils (as a forward) in giveaways for the second season in a row. And it's not really close.
Firstly, observing the box scores from this season, it appears that the person in charge of keeping track of real-time stats in New Jersey tends to low-ball the final numbers, so the figures could be even worse than they are.
So how bad are Jagr's numbers?
Let's just say that Ilya "turnover-machine" Kovalchuk aside, no Devil has really turned the puck over as much as Jagr in the past 6 or 7 years.
He's on pace for 57 giveaways this season a year after finishing with 59. His 29 giveaways in 41 games puts him at 16th highest in the NHL amongst forwards. His 59 last year, coincidentally, also put him at 16th most in the league amongst forwards.
This should come as no surprise to Devils fans as Jagr's moves and finesse are simply failing him this year. He would try to deke around these 25 year old defenseman who just strip the puck from him easily. It's almost sad to watch some nights as his once dominant stickhandling is now starting to fail him.
Another area of the game where Jagr's speed has really hurt him is defensively, where he's falling behind the speedy puck carriers and tries making desperation plays from behind.
Guess who leads all Devils forwards in minors this season?
The same player who lead all NJ forwards last season.
He also sits 10th amongst all NHL forwards.
He's on pace for 31 minor penalties, a total that hasn't been seen in New Jersey in over 5 seasons.
Jagr has 1 hold (usually a lazy penalty), 2 trips (occasionally a lazy penalty), 3 interferences (potentially a lazy penalty), and 10 hooking penalties (almost universally a lazy penalty). For a player who's lost a step, you have to make up for the slowness. Jagr's getting caught being lazy almost every time.
There's no question that Jagr definitely adds something to this team. He's one of the few goal scorers on this otherwise non-threatening roster that can fill the net somewhat-effectively. He's a delight to have on the team as fans and media can't get enough of him.
But he's beginning to hurt the team.
On January 2nd, the Montreal Canadiens were in New Jersey. With the Devils trailing 1-0 late in the 2nd period, Jagr loses the puck right at the Devils blue line sending it the other way.
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| Jagr in the bottom left hooking at a Montreal player |
On 16 Jaromir Jagr penalties, the opposition has scored 4 goals, a success rate of 25%. That combined with his staggering turnover totals may be signs of an end to a wonderful career.
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