After striking out on one aging future Hall of Famer last week Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli landed another one yesterday.
Chiarelli had done some groundwork on Jaromir Jagr and after learning late Monday night that the Dallas Stars were making him available closed the deal to bring the 41 year old Czech star to Boston. The cost of acquiring Jagr s talents was enforcer in the making Lane MacDermid (a healthy scratch for the last 21 games) 2012 fifth round pick Cody Payne and a conditional draft pick which could make this deal expensive. If the Bruins make the Eastern Conference finals it s a first round pick. If not it s a second rounder.
But whatever the price there can be little doubt that Jagr gives the Bruins who have struggled badly at times to score (they are tied for 12th in the league in goals) a more potent attack.
His career speaks for itself said Chiarelli who had Jarome Iginla taken out from under him last week. He s a strong player protects the puck well consistent with our style in the sense that there s a cycle element to his game. He s good on the half wall really good release and shot. He s just a real good player. I know he s 41 now but he s been one of their best players in Dallas last year he was one of Philly s best players and he gives us an element of offense he gives us an element of size and shooting.
With his 14 goals Jagr is already tied with Brad Marchand for the team lead. In his illustrious career he s amassed 679 goals and an even 1 000 assists with Pittsburgh Washington the New York Rangers Philadelphia and Dallas.
Chiarelli compared the acquisition of Jagr to that of another high end player near the end of his career.
I liken it a little bit and I told this to Jaromir too to the addition of Mark Recchi said Chiarelli adding it s too early to tell if Jagr is just a rental or not. You don t have to be the guy but you re an important piece and you band together with your teammates. You ve got the experience. You ve got a certain skill set size whatever you call it that will benefit the rest of the group. But one you have experience and you want to win still. That was an important question. And he was very receptive to that.
Jagr s been averaging 18 17 of ice time which would put him behind only Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. While he ll certainly see power play time Jagr could be added to the struggling third line with Rich Peverley and eventually Chris Kelly when he gets healthy. That way he could avoid seeing teams top defensive pairings.
We ll have to see how he fits in Chiarelli said. Obviously there s a need on the third line but he s got a higher line pedigree. What I said to Jaromir was that we pride ourselves on four strong lines and he s an important part but not the part to our success. So he could be on our third line . . . and he seemed very receptive to that.
Chiarelli said he spoke to captain Zdeno Chara as well as Czech born David Krejci about Jagr and said he got good interesting perspective on him.
He was the best for a long time and he s still one of the best right now said Krejci who played with Jagr in the 2010 Olympics. It s good to see him still do well at his age. Yeah I had posters of him when I was a kid. He was my hockey idol.
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