Here is Mario Lemieux's sidekick during their Stanley Cup championship runs in the early 1990s and also part of the early 2000s before Jagr quit on the team during his final season due to a feud with Ivan Hlinka (Pittsburgh's coach at the time) and the returning Mario Lemieux from a three-year hiatus due to his retirement in 1997. Pittsburgh did in fact come close to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2001, but they had to deal with the New Jersey Devils spearheaded by Patrik Elias, Alexander Mogilny, Brian Rafalski, Petr Sykora, Sergei Brylin, Scott Stevens, John Madden, Scott Niedermayer, Randy McKay, Martin Brodeur, Jason Arnott, Bobby Holik and Colin White in the 2001 Cup Finals en route to a matchup with the eventual Stanley Cup champions the Colorado Avalanche.
After 2000-01, Jagr was dealt to the Washington Capitals. Some say the Pens have had enough of Jagr's bad attitude and moody disposition, and that Mario Lemieux should take back the Pens because his sidekick and supposed eventual successor heir apparent to the throne shuts down easy in the NHL playoffs. Others say Pittsburgh (despite Mario holding ownership of the team) was going to be sold because trading away Jagr set the Pens out of the playoffs until 2006-07, by which they now have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as their new top superstars with Jordan Staal, Ryan Whitney and veterans Sergei Gonchar and late 1980s/early 1990s Penguins player Mark Recchi complementing the two, and also Pittsburgh was under the guise of being unable to afford to keep Jagr around.
The man was incredible during his time here but toward the end he sure seemed like a selfish diva that didn't really care about team success and would flame out and end up being remembered as a guy who was dominant for a while but not really Hall of Fame material. That continued after he became overpaid with the Capitals since he got a seven-year contract extension, and Jagr failed to carry Washington to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance after 1997-98 during the two and a half years he was in DC. Jagr went from having 120+ points per game season to around the 70-79 point mark because he wasn't trying, and grew even more lazy as a performer. Washington cut ties with Jagr when they traded him to the N.Y. Rangers midway through 2003-04 since the overpaid veterans weren't working out for them. I am not sure if Jagr was still an arrogant brat while he was with the New York Rangers, but he was back to trying to play hard on the ice and score 70-120 points per game, especially in 2005-06.
Jagr then went back to the KHL and Russia from 2008-09 to 2010-11 because he wanted to start growing up altogether and sort some personality issues out, to become the awesome grizzled class act of a veteran he is today. And even though Jagr was supposed to come back to the Penguins for 2011-12 before spurning them in favor of more money with the Philadelphia Eagles for one year. Jagr's second stint with the NHL would eventually see him passed around the league like a Mike Sillinger-esque journeyman for short-term stints with Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, New Jersey and now Florida has become his fourth long-term home after Pittsburgh, New York and Washington, except Sillinger lacked the monster talents that Jagr had in the 1990s, 2000s and the 2010s.
After 2000-01, Jagr was dealt to the Washington Capitals. Some say the Pens have had enough of Jagr's bad attitude and moody disposition, and that Mario Lemieux should take back the Pens because his sidekick and supposed eventual successor heir apparent to the throne shuts down easy in the NHL playoffs. Others say Pittsburgh (despite Mario holding ownership of the team) was going to be sold because trading away Jagr set the Pens out of the playoffs until 2006-07, by which they now have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as their new top superstars with Jordan Staal, Ryan Whitney and veterans Sergei Gonchar and late 1980s/early 1990s Penguins player Mark Recchi complementing the two, and also Pittsburgh was under the guise of being unable to afford to keep Jagr around.
The man was incredible during his time here but toward the end he sure seemed like a selfish diva that didn't really care about team success and would flame out and end up being remembered as a guy who was dominant for a while but not really Hall of Fame material. That continued after he became overpaid with the Capitals since he got a seven-year contract extension, and Jagr failed to carry Washington to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance after 1997-98 during the two and a half years he was in DC. Jagr went from having 120+ points per game season to around the 70-79 point mark because he wasn't trying, and grew even more lazy as a performer. Washington cut ties with Jagr when they traded him to the N.Y. Rangers midway through 2003-04 since the overpaid veterans weren't working out for them. I am not sure if Jagr was still an arrogant brat while he was with the New York Rangers, but he was back to trying to play hard on the ice and score 70-120 points per game, especially in 2005-06.
Jagr then went back to the KHL and Russia from 2008-09 to 2010-11 because he wanted to start growing up altogether and sort some personality issues out, to become the awesome grizzled class act of a veteran he is today. And even though Jagr was supposed to come back to the Penguins for 2011-12 before spurning them in favor of more money with the Philadelphia Eagles for one year. Jagr's second stint with the NHL would eventually see him passed around the league like a Mike Sillinger-esque journeyman for short-term stints with Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, New Jersey and now Florida has become his fourth long-term home after Pittsburgh, New York and Washington, except Sillinger lacked the monster talents that Jagr had in the 1990s, 2000s and the 2010s.
