We Will Know Today

Today we will find out if Jaromir Jagr, and his 1,599 career NHL points, will resume havoc on the prostitutes of Pittsburgh. It has been over 10 years since the most famous mullet on skates left the Steel City for the greener (in this case green as in money) pastures of Washington D.C. Losing the NHLs best player for what turned out to be one of the worst trades in the history of society, left the Pens scrambling for the next 5 seasons. Luckily those scrambling years were parlayed into Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, and Jordan Staal.





Maybe all along Jagr and Lemieux had this grand plan:

Let Jagr leave for Washington

Pens stink for years

Pens load up in the draft with multiple superstars

Lemieux saves hockey in Pittsburgh

Pens win the Cup

Jagr leaves for Russia to make the big bucks

Pittsburgh builds a casino

Jagr comes full circle at a chance to win another Cup

Probably not the case, but it will be awesome if he agrees to Ray Shero's one-year, $2 million offer. The only thing I'm scared about is that one-year thing. I know Shero is doing what is best for the organization, you don't want to get stuck with another Alex Kovalev and then have to pay him next year too. But, does Jagr take that as an insult? Does Detroit or Montreal offer him two-years with a third-year option? Only Double J knows. But all signs point towards a return. From what everyone is saying it is not about the money, it seems to be more out of respect and loyalty to an organization and an owner that gave him NHL life. Obviously Jagr, the fifth pick in the 1990 draft, would have been drafted by some team but in Pittsburgh he became a star and won Cups in his first two seasons.

Bylsma wants him, Lemieux wants him, and anyone who was conceivably ill following the 3-1 series collapse to the Lightning and know the importance of scoring goals want Jagr to come back.

What can it hurt. Maybe he will be great, maybe he will stink, odds are he will be somewhere in the middle, but no doubt the guy still can score the puck. He scored a Hat Trick against the US in the Worlds this Summer. Those are NHLers that he scored on. He won't have the speed he used to, but he is world-class and will be able to handle the passes that Sid and Geno dish out. He will be able to visualize plays before they happen, and he will be able to contribute more to the Power Play than we can imagine. If he's a bust, then he's a bust. But if he's great, then so too will be the Penguins.

So far so good for Shero. He's locked up two vital pieces to our #1 ranked Penalty Kill in cap friendly deals with Craig Adams and Pascal Dupuis. Both could have potentially made more money on the open market, but both openly stated that they wanted to stay in Pittsburgh. Great city, great fans, awesome players, a player-friendly coach, and a legend as an owner. Why would they leave. They have a chance to win the Cup year-in-and-year out.

Looks like even with the $2M looming in the Jagr deal, with the surprising hike in the salary cap the Pens will still be able to offer Tyler Kennedy and even Mike Rupp money close to the numbers they were seeking. Starting off by not over paying for Adams and Dupuis leaves a lot of wiggle room to sign those two and take a run and Jagr. If Rupp doesn't work out then it looks like they might turn to Arron Asham in hopes they can convince him to return. I guess when you seal up your D-men and goalies for years to come, you can spend a whole offseason focusing on forwards. Kinda nice.

Let's say that all works out and the Pens sign Jagr, Kennedy, and Rupp. Think of the possible lines:

Kunitz - Crosby - Neal
Kennedy - Malkin - Jagr
Dupuis - Staal - Cooke
Rupp - Adams - Jeffrey/Letestu

Wow

Let's Go Pens