If Treliving had signed him in the summer, Jagr would have been the player we hoped to get. It was clear he still had the strength and know how, but the one thing you couldn't ask a 46 year old to do was not have a training camp.
I could have told you that July Spencer Foo was not going to be better than 46 year old Jaromir Jagr, and I'm not even paid to know that.
Pretty sure Jagr missing camp was his decision, not what Treliving would have preferred.
Pretty sure Jagr missing camp was his decision, not what Treliving would have preferred.
From what I understand and most of the reports at the time, Jagr had lost some motivation for training.
He was told he would probably resign with Florida and than a few days before July 1, they decided to go a different route. He than stopped working out shortly after due to a lack of NHL interest, hence the tweets at the time of him getting all the GM calls when he was young and none now.
I don't think he had much in the way of off-season training until perhaps the season was on the verge of starting and talks with Calgary picked up.
By his own admission at his introductory press conference he said he needed a month to get up to speed and than was playing I think a week later in LA.
I wish the Flames would have been a little more rigid with him and erred on the sign of caution and given him a few weeks to get used to practicing again, getting chemistry with the guys, getting used to the altitude and weather of Calgary etc and than going into a game.
It's tough since at his age and his status he knows his body better than anybody else but sometimes you need to be more vocal for the goodness of the club.
Either way, I loved his short time with the Flames!
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Didn't want to make a thread for it, but Jagr was on Spittin' Chiclets. Interview starts at 1:01:58. An incredible interview well worth hearing, but some Flames-related highlights include:
-As a young kid, Jagr was the first European to ever play for the Pens, he was homesick, frustrated and couldn't speak English well enough to communicate with his teammates. Jagr credits Jiří Hrdina coming over in the trade from Calgary for helping save his career and getting him acclimated to life in North America and the NHL.
-After his contract with the Rangers was done in 08, and I quote him directly on this one, he said "But uh, July 2nd, I think Edmonton called... No thanks!" and with that he left for Russia. He then follows up a couple minutes later with saying if he'd gone to Edmonton he would have made a lot more than in NY even, but didn't say what he was offered. As if I couldn't love Jagr more, he flat-out rejected the Oilers before signing with us later on in his career.
-About 2 hrs in he talks about the travelling Jagrs a little bit; how he saw them every time the Flames played in other cities, met them eventually, later on had fun seeing them every night at the Dome; nice to see he has a few good memories of his unfortunately injury-limited time here. He openly admitted he didn't expect us to be his last stop at the time and gets into the mentality of old players in pro sports always trying their hardest to keep it going just one more year.
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He then follows up a couple minutes later with saying if he'd gone to Edmonton he would have made a lot more than in NY even, but didn't say what he was offered. As if I couldn't love Jagr more, he flat-out rejected the Oilers before signing with us later on in his career.