Jaromir Jagr's History with the (my) Washington Capitals
Jaromir Jagr's story with my
Washington Capitals wouldn't seem all that special, but try thinking of another time in professional sports when a
five time scoring champ and the
highest paid player in the league put up such bad numbers on such dissipointing teams?!??! Plus considering that the fine
District of Columbia and the
suburbs of
D.C had to deal with this guy for nearly three years and suffered in sagging
attendance and
cash lost.
Jagr, who came to town in a
trade with the
Pittsburgh Penguins in the summer of
2001 to much much MUCH hoopla. Over 1,000
Caps fans welcomed Jagr when he landed at
Dulles International Airport the day he arrived as a Capital and packed the
MCI Center throughout the
2001-2002 season. Yet in about two and a half years in D.C, he scored only 83
goals, 118
assists and 201
points in 190 games with a
plus/minus of +1.
Yet,
Jags run with the Caps can easily be branded a
dissipointment. Taking off games for relatively minor injuries (my personal favorite came this year, missing two games with a
broken finger nail. This is a HOCKEY PLAYER right?!) not to mention the five-time scoring champ played his worst
hockey since he was a
teenager. Jagr came to the Capitals after they were on the heels on having won back to back
Southeast Division titles and had won the
Eastern Confrence title just four years before. During his stay, they have made the playoffs once, and Jagr cooled off during their lone playoff series loss to the
Tampa Bay Lightning.
And not only did Jagr not show hussle on the ice, he quite the
media nightmare,
talking smack about the team (including on national TV at the 2002
All Star Game), and being a large part of the firing of ex-coach
Ron Wilson and having constant clashes with recently made ex-coach
Bruce Cassidy. He was eating up over a fifth of the team's salary with his league-high 11 million a year contract (that the Caps still had to pay a chunk of) and rarely did you get the smiling Jagr that was playing
for the love of the game.
Jaromir Jagr was traded to the
New York Rangers on
January 23rd, 2004 for
Anson Carter and
cash. He played 31 games with the Rangers with only 29
points a -1 plus/minus and the Rangers missing the
playoffs for a seventh straight season.
Here are Jagr's most memorable moments in D.C:
-Jags goes -4 with only a
shot on goal in the 2002 All-Star Game as the World team beats
North America 8-5. He tells
ABC Darren Pang after getting off the ice to give up the first goal of the game: "I'm getting used to it from
Washington. Every time we step on the ice in Washington,
we have minus right away."
-Speaking of All-Star Games, in perhaps his best stretch with the Caps, Jagr is elected a
starter to the
2003 All-Star Game. After stating he felt he didn't deserve to start (and didn't) he goes off and records three goals and four assists in the Capitals 12-2 win over the
Florida Panthers at the MCI Center. The 12 goals tied a team record and it was Jagr's most productive night of his career. He would then go on to notch four assists in the East's 6-5 loss in the actual All-Star game.
-The
Internal Revenue Service reported during the
2000 season that Jagr owed $3,270,209 in income tax for 2001 and last week filed a lien against Jagr in
Pennsylvania. The
IRS filed a claim for $350,000 in unpaid taxes for 1999.
-As the Caps were crawling for a playoff spot they'd end up losing by only two points, Jagr misses nearly two weeks of hockey in 2001 after
Ulf Samuelson of the
New York Rangers (ha) decks him.
-And in Jagr's final
hurrah in Washington, after getting put on the
ice hard, Jagr fires and scores the game-tying goal in a thrilling 3-3 tie with
Calgary. His final Washington goal was scored in the Caps 3-2 loss to
New Jersey, and oddly enough, his final point as a Cap was an assist against his former, the
Pittsburgh Penguins in the Caps 4-3 win over them.
-13,362
fans at
MCI boo Jagr all night in his return on March 18th. Jagr has a two point night, but his team ends up losing 4-3 in
overtime.
Jagr brought
publicity to
Washington ice hockey, the Caps saw a big attendance bump his first year, and for the first time ever, enjoyed all 82 games on regional television. Yet for every public bitchfest, for every "illegal stick" penalty (they were plenty) for every wimpy injury and for every (and MANY) great looking drives to the net that seemed to go wrong at the last second, I'm glad he's gone.