Sens fan coming here in peace. Now we all Know Jagr is the greatest Euro to ever play and his stats speak for themselves, but do you guys think if he stayed after the 2007-2008 season he would have passed Messier for 2nd all time in scoring? He would have had to average around 80pts/yr to get to 2nd and obviously be healthy. If he was able to score 54 pts in 73 games at the age of 40, I think he could have achieved 80 points in those years he missed.
Some of the guys ahead of him like Francis and Howe have played 400 more games than him and their ppg is also lower. Based on ppg alone he would easily be 4th or 5th right now. Now this is all hypothetical because he could have stunk up those years if he did play but I highly doubt it. What are your thoughts?
Absolutely. Really wish Jags never left the NHL. Always been a big fan of his.
Agreed. Seeing what he did this season and his last sees I think he could pretty easily have put up 60-70 points each. That would leave in around 50 or so points behind Messier after this year, and which he could pretty easily get past in the next year or two.
If he stayed healthy, absolutely. But he has groin issues, you could often tell this year that he was playing hurt. Otherwise, he could be a near PPG player even at 40. So I don't know what would've happened in these years, but there's a strong chance that he would've reached it.
If he stayed healthy I think he could have. I was glad to see him go (hated him as a Pen/Ranger/Cap) but glad to see him return as a Flyer.
I agree with this. I hated him and was glad he was gone. he is the equivalent of us getting crosby to me. but he won me over when he "chose" us over pittsburgh. thats when it became acceptable to love him. as far as the points, he definitely would be closing in by now. He was still performing at an extremely high level.
I really wish he didn't leave for the KHL because, as said above, he definitely could have produced a great deal in the time he left and would be much higher on the all-time leader boards.
I'm not sure whether he really would or would not have passed Messier. When he was leaving NHL 4 yrs ago he semt a bit broken when saying "Look at this guy (Ovechkin), I have 71 points and he scored almost the same amount only in goals (65 I believe)." At the time he semt to me like retiring in 2 or 3 yrs just because he felt he can't be the best anymore.
Russia changed him (which imo started during the 04-05 lockout), he became a bit more humble and in front of all he also admited numerous times that the russian style of practicing and summer preparations prolonged his career noticeably.
That said, I tend to believe that if he had stayed in the NHL, it'd be only for one or two more seasons and then he'd go to Kladno, CZE for one last year.
I agree with this. I hated him and was glad he was gone. he is the equivalent of us getting crosby to me. but he won me over when he "chose" us over pittsburgh. thats when it became acceptable to love him. as far as the points, he definitely would be closing in by now. He was still performing at an extremely high level.
For me it was just that he became irrelevant. I remember growing up and just hating the guy. Always hoped to injure him while playing the old NHL EA games. When he left for the KHL I just assumed he wasn't returning. If he went somewhere else, I probably still would hate him, but I had no problem welcoming him with open arms because he just wasn't relevant anymore. Now he's very relevant.
