Written by Rob Bartnichak at the Sports Quotient
If there’s anything that hockey fans love, it’s the story of everybody’s favorite veteran: Jaromir Jagr. Jagr, the 43-year-old, 23-year-veteran, eight-team journeyman who won’t stop scoring.
This year has been more of the same for Jagr, as he’s posted eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 26 games in his first season as a member of the Florida Panthers’ opening day roster. Which, if he continues at this pace, would mean he would finish the year with 63 points. Teemu Selanne is the NHL record holder for points scored in his age 43 season in 2013-14. He scored 27 points that year.
This isn’t exactly anything new for Jagr. He notched a respectable 47 points last year between the Panthers and the New Jersey Devils (including 18 points in 20 games with Florida). The season before that, Jagr scored 67 points. And while he might not be the 149-point scorer that he was in 1995-96 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he’s still producing at quite the rate. But, how?
Let’s look deeper at his play this season. He’s just on the right side of possession with a Corsi For percentage of 50.2 (and in fact has never been below 50 percent since theNHL started recording blocked and wide shots in 2005-06) on a team that’s fifth-worst in the league at 46.8. He’s managed 24.6 scoring chances for per 60 minutes, while the team as a whole is dead last in the league at 20.3. Oh, and he’s managed this despite having an offensive zone start percentage of only 43.8. Maybe it’s the mullet.
Jagr is generating offense for the Panthers, and it’s showing in his stat line. He leads the Panthers (and is tied for first among hockey players in the state of Florida) with 20 points. Generating offense and finishing has never been the problem for Jagr’s Hall of Fame career. The question in his old age now is whether this is sustainable.
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