Back Stories: Statistically Speaking

 

"Jaromir played in both the world junior and senior championships. He led Kladno in goals and points and was the first Czech player to attend an NHL draft without having to defect. He was the fifth player drafted in 1990. Even though Jaromir was the youngest to suit up for an NHL game this season, he scored three game-winning goals (three of the team's five at that point) in Pittsburgh's first 12 games. Pittsburgh moved the left-handed shot to right wing. Jaromir's an accurate shooter, converting 21 percent of his chances in the early going."

The Jagr story is a good one. Pro Set doesn't really paint the whole picture here with the line about not defecting because it wasn't really that simple. In a nutshell, Jaromir left Czechoslovakia to join the Penguins after being drafted but failed to notify the Czech hockey officials of his sudden departure. He was already under contract to play with the Poldi Kladno team and had one year remaining on that deal. But seeing that he signed that deal before he was 18, the Penguins asked the NHL to nullify the contract so he could be signed to the NHL. It's a great story that I'll leave for a later date.

Everyone has seen this card by now. Probably 100 times at least. You may even own 100 of these. As we all know, there's no shortage of 1990-91 Pro Set hockey cards in the world. Most collector's know that 1990-91 Pro Set was riddled with spelling mistakes, errors, misprints, and printing defects. The Jaromir Jagr rookie card is no exception to that phenomenon. 

The most common version of this card shows an alignment issue on the back in the stat box toward the top of the card. Where it lists the stat headers of GP, G, A PTS, PIM, the line is shifted to the left, causing the numbers below to be skewed. The vast majority of the Jagr RC's you find out in the wild will display the back this way. The more "rare", if you want to call it that, version is the corrected, aligned version you see here. I probably have at least a dozen of the error version of the card but for some reason, have never pinned down the corrected copy. This card arrived in a #mailday from my pal John Malone (@BugsyMalone_17)...along with a host of other fanciful goodies I'll probably also use for these posts.

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Today in Penguins History (6/16/1990)

On this date in 1990, exactly 30 years ago, the Penguins selected future HOFer and hockey ironman, Jaromir Jagr in the first round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft.  Jagr was the fifth pick in the draft and became the first Czech player to be drafted without first defecting to North America.  As the Soviet structure was collapsing in Europe, the stranglehold on travel and relocation began to loosen.  Upon the encouragement of his native government, Jagr was actually able to be in attendance at the Draft in Vancouver and relocate to Pittsburgh without difficulty.

This was great for the Penguins as his presence on a line with Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis helped the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 90-91 and 91-92.  Jaromir went on to play 11 seasons with the Penguins and is considered one of the best Pittsburgh forwards of all time.  Just look at his team records...

• Most single-season points by a right wing – 149
• Most single-season assists by a right wing – 87
• Most single-season assists by a European-born player – 87
• Most single-season power-play goals by a European-born player – 20
• Most single-season game-winning goals – 12
• Most single-season shots on goal – 403
• Most career points by a right wing – 1079
• Most career points by a European-born player – 1079
• Most career goals by a right wing – 439
• Most career goals by a European-born player – 439
• Most career assists by a right wing – 640
• Most career assists by a European-born player – 640
• Most career playoff game-winning goals – 78
• Most career power-play goals by a right wing – 110
• Most career power-play goals by a European-born player – 110

• Most career shorthanded goals by a European-born player – 9
• Most career overtime goals – 9
• Most career game-tying goals – 10
• Most career shots on goal by a right wing – 2911
• Most career shots on goal by a European-born player – 2911
• Most career playoff goals by a right wing – 65
• Most career playoff goals by a European-born player – 65

• Most career playoff points by a right wing – 147
• Most career playoff points by a European-born player – 147
• Most career playoff shorthanded goals by a right wing – 2 (tied with Ed Olczyk)
• Most career playoff shorthanded goals by a European-born player – 2
• Most career playoff game-winning goals – 14
• Most career playoff overtime goals – 4
• Most career playoff shots on goal – 461
• Most career playoff power-play goals by a right wing – 19
• Most career playoff power-play goals by a European-born player – 19

***from the Jaromir Jagr wikipedia page

End Of An Era

The writing has been on the wall quite a while for Jaromir Jagr's resurrected NHL career.  Yesterday officially marked the end of Jagr's time with his latest team, the Calgary Flames, as they moved him to the waiver wire.  He cleared waivers today and the hardest working hockey player is now heading back to the KHL.  He plans to play for the team that he has been owner of since 2011 (ala Mario Lemieux, maybe?), HC Kladno.  It just so happens that Kladno is also his hometown.

Many people know that Jagr is one of my player's that I collect and have since I was a kid.  Back when Jagr was drafted by the Penguins in the first round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, there were high hopes for him as a prospect in the Pittsburgh system.  Everyone knew he was good but I'm not sure that everybody expected his initial 57 points in 80 games.  He never looked back.   

Now, 24 seasons and nine teams later, he is heading back to the KHL for the second time.  He spent three seasons back there in the later stages of Phase 1 of his career, joining the Avangard Omsk team in Russia when the NHL was locked out in 2004.  Returning in 2011 to play for the Flyers, he made his "farewell tour" around the NHL almost an annual thing, playing for six teams in eight seasons.   

But the player that endeared me was the 11-season Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins.  As a fully aware and engaged hockey fan, I grew up with Jagr.  His posters graced the walls of my room (I can remember at least two different Starline ones).  The first Pens jersey that I had, that was actually not a hand-me-down, was his.   I had numerous magazines that he was featured on.  My favorite t-shirt I owned had a caricature of him with his long flowing locks.  He was the epitome of cool, nightly displaying his talent and skill all while sporting the sweetest hair.  I even tried to grow my hair out just like his...it was close (at least in my mind). 

All good things come to an end and it was apparent this year as injuries plagued the 45 year old, soon-to-be HOFer.  There is still a chance he can get picked up by another team but at this point, I'm not sure there are teams out there looking to spend money on aged player just to add leadership to a locker room.  Because that is what it would be at this point.  Unfortunately, it seems time has finally caught up to Jagr and where he was once a force to be reckoned with on the ice, the NHL game has gotten faster and passed him by. 

A first ballot HOFer for sure, his career stats speak for themselves.  I'll leave you all with some info to marvel over.

• Games played - - 1,733  3rd All Time
• Goals - - 766  3rd All Time (behind Howe and Gretzky)
• Assists - - 1,155  5th All Time
• Total Points - - 1,921  2nd All Time (only Gretzky is ahead)
• Game Winning Goals - - 135  1st All Time
• 10 Time All Star
• 5 Time Art Ross Trophy Winner
• Hart Trophy Winner
• Masterton Trophy Winner
• 3 Time Ted Lindsay Award Winner
• 2 Time Stanley Cup Champion
• Voted one of the NHL's 100 Greatest Players of All Time.  

Puck Junk Podcast #10

Sometimes I Like My Collection

2005-06 SPx Winning Combos Gold Mario Lemieux/Jaromir Jagr #/99

Career Milestone: 1000 Assists

Last night, in front of the home crowd in Dallas, Jaromir Jagr got his 1,000th NHL assist.  With that helper, Jagr becomes only the 12 player in the league to ever reach that milestone in their careers.  (It also helped that Dallas won the game, snapping Minnesota's 7 game winning streak.)




It's been a long time between assist number 1 and number 1,000.  Jagr started his NHL career in Pittsburgh when he was 18 years old (subsequently, I was 12).  When he took to the ice on Oct. 19, 1990, he tallied his first assist of his career against Buffalo on a goal from "Double Z" Zarley Zalapski.  Now, almost 23 years later, he gets number 1,000.  Here's a quote from an interview he did after the game...

"I never thought about any assists and points, I was happy to be able to play here. When I came here, I didn't think I'd have a chance to play here. The League was too strong and too tough for me. I kept working hard and I've had so many good players around me, they showed me the way of how to get better. I really was pretty lucky. I always said you have to be lucky with who you play with and I had a chance to play with so many great players." 

Lucky indeed.  Of the other 11 guys who scored 1,000 career assists, he was teammates with four of them:  Ron Francis, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, and of course, Mario Lemieux.

I picked up a few more Jagr cards for my PC last weekend at the Sun Time Sports show.  Now would probably be as good a time as any to share. 

 Here he's saying "I wish I would have never left Pittsburgh."

What?  That could have been what he said.

This is a Refractor if you couldn't tell by the scan. 
It's #/300.

I saw this card and was puzzled at first.  The 1994 SP cards should have had Jagr in a Pens uni but here he was as a Capital.  Since I wasn't actively collecting, I was unaware that the 2002-03 SP set was a 10th Anniversary.  These were numbered out of the original year...1994, and there is that nifty "10" silver foil stamped in the corner.

New PC Additions (Not Tangradi related)

That Sports Spectacular show from a few weeks ago that I talked about a week or so ago also yielded me a hefty pile of cards for my other player collections.  Without further adieu, I will just let the scans do the talking.  WARNING...THIS IS A PICTURE HEAVY POST.

First up, Bill Guerin.  Guerin cards are a rough find because unless they are autos or feature some dual memorabilia with a star player, no one really pulls these out to sell individually.  Hence, the quarter boxes tend to be where these come from.  I was able to pick up two cards that I'm pretty sure I didn't have at the time, but not I'm not so sure.  Either way, they are cool.

Next up is Jaromir Jagr.  I almost don't like myself for still wanting to collect his cards but here I am.  Here's what I got.  Most of these are new to the collection because they are all fairly recent.  I don't have a large selection of stuff from 2000 forward.  The older cards are mostly inserts.  Again, you gotta love Quarter Boxes.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally we have Mario Lemieux.  I haven't been through my Super Mario cards in a while so some of these may now be doubles.  But to you and the blog, they are new.  Check these out.

The Contenders card came out of a box I bought at the show.

 

 

 

 

These both came from Sal in a "trade".

 Now that the server has probably crashed due to the amount of graphics on this page, I bid you farewell.