Now that NHL Free Agency is almost set to begin, teams will be looking for other pieces to help make their club better heading into the 2011-12 season.
Two players that might fit in with an NHL club this year come via the Kontinental Hockey League are Jaromir Jagr and Evgeni Nabokov. Out of the two, only one has drawn some interest while the other continues to be in limbo.
The player that has drawn a lot of interest over the last few weeks is Jagr. Jagr's last season in the NHL was in 2007-08 before heading overseas to play in the KHL with Avangard Omsk.
Two players that might fit in with an NHL club this year come via the Kontinental Hockey League are Jaromir Jagr and Evgeni Nabokov. Out of the two, only one has drawn some interest while the other continues to be in limbo.
The player that has drawn a lot of interest over the last few weeks is Jagr. Jagr's last season in the NHL was in 2007-08 before heading overseas to play in the KHL with Avangard Omsk.
In three seasons with Avangard, Jagr picked up 66 goals and 79 assists for 145 points in 155 games. Jagr was close to being a point-per-game player and showed that he still has an exceptional amount of skill to contribute.
Two teams who are seriously interested in for former NHL star are the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins. Jagr's agent, former NHL defenseman Petr Svoboda, has been in touch with both clubs and right now, it is simply a feeling out process.
In either case, Jagr would be a great fit for both of those teams' power play and could also be a key factor come playoff time. With that said, is Jagr ready to go back to the grind of an NHL schedule and play hard every single day?
It will be interesting to see what happens with this because having Jagr back in the NHL is certainly intriguing, eh?
Nabokov is a really interesting case. Last year at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers acquired the negotiating rights to Nabokov. However, he never ended up signing with the team and ended up going to the KHL.
After half a season in Russia, Nabokov had had enough and wanted to return to the NHL. The New York Islanders claimed Nabokov off waivers in January, but he failed to report to the club because he left Russia with the intention of signing with the Detroit Red Wings.
At the time, Islanders general manager Garth Snow said he did not claim Nabokov to move him and that is where we stand today. It will be interesting to see what happens with this saga as the NHL off-season continues.
There are a handful of teams looking for a goaltender, but the market is thin. Nabokov could be a backup plan for some teams (not as their starter, of course).
One of these players certainly has a good shot of playing in the NHL next season while the other is stuck with a team that he may not want to play for.
No matter what happens, it will be interesting to see how these situations develop further as the NHL offseason gets underway.
Photos credit: Getty Images
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1 comments:
"is Jagr ready to go back to the grind of an NHL schedule and play hard every single day?"
Jagr practiced and skated when JAGR wanted to and then, only for as long as he wanted and putting forth only the effort he was willing to expend his last several years in the NHL. This does NOT help develop a team feeling. I don't know how they do things in the KHL but, if Jagr wants to skate in the NHL and the team that chooses him does not want him creating bad feelings, this needs to be addressed. Either he's a part of the team or he isn't. It isn't enough to put points on the board, you have to be a part of the team, not put yourself above everyone else....
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