30 May: Jagr's season review 2000/2001

Jagr came into the season after a very good performance in the previous 99/00 - playoffs, as well as in the - regular season. Most of the injuries Jagr had suffered from the were gone, or at least better, and the new season started off fairly well for Jagr. On the 14th of October, the Penguins fourth game of the season, Jagr had his first ever NHL career four goal game, and it seemed like he had just started this season's show. But things weren't the way they should have been in November. For the first time in a long time we saw a very frustrated Jagr. He had his chances, but the puck just didn't go in the net. It might have been the frustration that started it all. Suddenly Jagr didn't look all that interested in playing anymore. He started passing the puck to his teammates more and more, and he wasn't fighting off defensemen like they were mosquitos anymore. Most of the end-to-end rushes and one-on-one dekes we're so used to seeing were gone too. That was when the media entered the picture. They began asking Jagr why he wasn't scoring like before, and obviously Jagr didn't like these questions. Instead of trying to give 101% in every game again to "correct the problem" he sunk even lower, and it was obvious that the media pressure had made him play even worse. Jagr continued struggling. Two months into the season Jagr couldn't stand it anymore. Twice Jagr asked Penguins GM Craig Patrick to trade him. Obviously because he thought it was the only solution to his problems and wanted to get a kick-start on another team. Craig Patrick didn't listen, so after a few days Jagr went upstairs to Mario Lemieux. Jagr told Mario that the way he was playing he wasn't helping the team, and that he wanted to be traded. Mario told him that he would never trade him. "You don't trade the best player in the world" Mario said. As Jagr was going to leave Lemieux told him that he actually was planning a comeback! This turned everything around. Jagr started playing much harder after that, and on the 16th of December, just one week before Mario's comeback, Jagr scored a hat-trick vs. Montreal. Jagr wasn't able to change it all around, but at least he started trying again. On the 27th December Lemieux started off his amazing comeback season in a game against the Maple Leafs. Jagr and Lemieux both had three points each to lead the Pens to a 5-0 win. For the next few games Mario and Jagr dominated the Penguins' games together, and during January Jagr had the Penguins longest assist-streak ever. Jagr led all the All-Star vote getters for the second consecutive year at the end of January, but had to skip the game after he had been checked into the boards by Philadelphia's Todd Ferouk on the 31st. Still Jagr was happy, as the All-Star voting showed that most fans had his name on their voting forms, and luckily because of the long All-Star break Jagr didn't miss any regular-season games. Jagr was at the top of the scoring-lead again battling with Joe Sakic, but something wasn't right this time either. In some games Jagr looked disinterested again, and after he was shut down in a game vs. New Jersey he told the press: "I'm not a good player, why do you expect me to score?" Jagr's relationship to Mario didn't seem to be all too good either. Mario had just come back from a three year long retirement, and the fans very more than happy to see their old hero back on the ice again. Alexei Kovalev was in the middle of a break through season, and it seemed like most of the fans and the media totally had forgotten who Jaromir Jagr was. That he single handedly had carried the team the last three years was something many fans seemed to have forgotten. Kovalev and Mario were given good feedback from the media and they were both cheered like never before by the fans. And for one of the biggest entertainers ever in professional sports this was nothing like what he was used to. Definitely not a good position for a player of Jagr's skill level. All this put Jagr into a bad mood, and as we all know: When you're in a bad mood you're not really the friendliest human on earth, so Jagr started saying some "stupid" things to the media, which upset the fans even more, and many of the fans turned against him. This made everything even worse! Instead of doing like Alexei Yashin did in Ottawa, (He gave everything in every game playing like the player he was, and got the fans and media back on his side again) Jagr dug himself an even bigger hole, and his motivation and spirit for the game of hockey grew even smaller. But as time went on Jagr seemed to feel a little more comfortable in "his new role" at the Penguins, and in March Jagr played some very inspiring hockey again. It was more than fair to see him voted as the player of the month. The fans were now a little bit more happy with their super star Right-Winger, and Jagr was awarded the Scoring-title at the end of the season, after a tough battle with Joe Sakic. Jagr was also named to the 2002 Czech Republic Olympic team in March. Then the playoffs started. Jagr started off the playoffs with a pretty good performance in the Capitals series, and he seemed to have his heart in the game more than he had for a long time. In the quarter finals vs. Buffalo Jagr hurt his shoulder and had to sit out two straight games. The same week Jagr had a loud discussion with Penguins coach Ivan Hlinka just hours before a game was about to start. The discussion broke up when Jagr started pointing his stick at Hlinka. Hlinka crossed his arms and walked away. Nobody really knew what the whole discussion was about, but a Czech reporter who had witnessed parts of the discussion said Jagr had mentioned Hlinka's defensive oriented hockey system at least once. The same week Lemieux had told the press he wanted Jagr to step up his game, and start scoring more. That might not have been the smartest comment from Lemieux, even though I don't think he meant anything bad by it. Jagr was feeling the pressure from the fans and the media more than enough, and Mario's comment just made the pressure even more intense on Jagr. But back to the injury: Some of the fans said that Jagr wasn't hurt at all, but just pouting. Jagr got really depressed again, and even said that it had been the worst week of his life. Jagr also made a good statement to the fans and the media saying that he was human too, and that he had feelings as well, and that seemed to quiet the fans and the media for awhile. Jagr came back to the Buffalo series to help the Pens continue to the semi-finals. Jagr's shoulder definitely wasn't well yet, and it wasn't going to become better before the end of the playoffs or after several days of rest. Even if the things that had happened to Jagr the last week made him depressed, the fact that it might be his last games ever for the Pens, and that he had a chance to win the Stanley Cup made him play well anyway. In the Semi-finals the Pens were run down by the defensive systemized Devils, and a half injured Jagr wasn't much treat for the Devils. Neither were any of the other Penguin forwards of much harm. Even if some say that the biggest question of the summer is to what team Jagr will be traded, I'm still sticking to the question: "Will he be traded or not?" Because if they trade Jagr they will probably get some equally good players in return. These players would probably have to be paid the same amount as Jagr, or at least almost the same as Jagr. 10 million a season is also in my opinion a very fair price for Jagr. The only way the Pens could avoid this problem is to trade him for promising young players and future draft picks. But would the Pens really give up a player who is labelled "100 points a season" for prospects that they don't even know are good? One thing that won't change is that it won't matter for what team Jagr will start off his 2001/2002 season. He will still go on entertaining thousands of fans with his incredible moves, dominate and win games for his team and who knows? Maybe the fans will start appreciating him a bit more simply for his unique offensive talent after all -- Even if he won't be scoring hat-tricks in every game. Hopefully the experience that he has gotten this season on how people can treat you in a tough situation will probably be very useful if it would happen again. In another team, in a nother city or maybe even in another country...

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