NHL Trade Deadline 2015: The Best Possible Landing Spots for Jaromir Jagr

Jaromir Jagr is an incredible hockey player.

Even as he approaches his 43rd birthday and the team he's playing on falls further and further in the standings, the 6'3", 230-pound Czech winger is a productive scoring winger. He's not the superstar he was earlier in his career, but with four different teams over the last four seasons, he's proven that he can still contribute at the major league level.

Given Jagr's age and contract status (he'll be a free agent this summer) and the Devils' being well outside the playoff picture, it seems a cinch to say that he'll be moved elsewhere. Which teams could be a good fit? 

Boston Bruins

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One of the problems with trading for a rental player is that it's hard to know exactly how that player is going to fit in. In a lot of cases, the coach and the team isn't familiar with the new player and vice versa, so it's always a risk.

That wouldn't be the case if Jagr were dealt to the Bruins. 

Jagr joined Boston in 2012-13 and was part of the Bruins team that advanced to the Stanley Cup Final before bowing out in six games against Chicago. He was snake-bit in those playoffs (zero goals on 58 shots), but the team certainly had success. 

It certainly makes sense for Boston, both because Jagr has a relatively modest cap hit ($3.5 million, according to NHL Numbers) and because he would help the team's scoring problems on the wing.

For his part, Jagr certainly sounded bullish in a January interview with NJ.com's Rich Chere on the Bruins' prospects when they were life and death for a playoff spot, so perhaps he too would welcome such a reunion.

Detroit Red Wings

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There probably isn't another general manager in the NHL who values experience more than Detroit's Ken Holland. Under Holland's watch, the Red Wings have repeatedly added veteran NHLers whose best days are behind them but who can still contribute. Jagr would certainly fit into that pattern. 

Holland was among the managers interested when a 39-year-old Jagr first returned to the NHL.

"They’ve contacted us, and we’ve expressed an interest," Holland told the Associated Press' Larry Lage (via NHL.com) in June 2011. "We’ll continue to stay in touch."

In the same piece, Jagr praised Detroit's style of play and talked up Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg as "great, great players." 

It didn't work out, but the Red Wings are in fine shape, and the addition of a top-nine right wing certainly wouldn't hurt the club any.  

Montreal Canadiens

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According to Jagr's agent, Petr Svoboda, when the future Hall of Famer returned to the NHL from a stint overseas, one of his goals was to play for the Montreal Canadiens.

"When he came back from the KHL his dream was to play [in Montreal] but obviously the organization was going in a different direction with the younger guys and everything else,” Svoboda told TSN Montreal 690 (h/t TSN Canada) earlier this month. “He’s happy as a Devil right now, but he did try to come to Montreal.”

Jagr and Montreal centre Tomas Plekanec are both from Kladno in the Czech Republic and have previously played together on various Czech national teams; the two would seem to be logical collaborators on one of the Habs' scoring lines.

The addition of Jagr would bolster a Canadiens team that has exceptional defence and goaltending but is a little shy on offence from the wings. 

Nashville Predators

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When Jagr first returned to the NHL after his extended stint overseas, the coach he played for was then-Philadelphia Flyers bench boss Peter Laviolette. Now, Laviolette is the head coach of the extremely good Nashville Predators, a team that just might be interested in adding some scoring depth for a very difficult battle to win the Central division. 

In a 2012 interview with Pavel Lysenkov (translated into English by Puck Daddy's Dmitry Chesnokov), Jagr explained that he'd enjoyed his time in Philadelphia, but the Flyers had other free-agent priorities. Still, he had nothing but praise for his coach.  

"I have never seen a team like the Flyers," Jagr said. "Everyone keeps together. Players understand the coach immediately. The year was such that there was nothing to complain about. We played some wonderful hockey."

Given his history with Laviolette, it's a good bet that Jagr would gel quickly with a very good Predators team. 

New York Rangers

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New York Rangers franchise goalie Henrik Lundqvist is one of the many NHL players who regards Jagr highly.

"He was not like any other player," Lundqvist told the Wall Street Journal's Mike Sielski back in 2011. "I was impressed."

Jagr spent parts of four seasons with the Rangers and was named the NHL's most valuable player by his peers after a 54-goal, 123-point season in 2005-06. While these days he's more a 50-point than 50-goal player, he'd still add valuable depth and experience to a New York team that had some losses in those departments over the summer. 

Pittsburgh Penguins

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Could Jagr make a return to the city where his NHL career started? According to beat writer Dejan Kovacevic, it's something that management has talked over with centre Evgeni Malkin. 

"All I know about the Penguins and Jaromir Jagr is that Evgeni Malkin was recently approached by management to see if he’d see No. 68 as a good fit on his line," Kovacevic wrote on his site in January. "Malkin affirmed."

Pittsburgh added David Perron to the team back in January, but Perron plays both left and right wing. It would be easy enough to shift him to the port side to make room for Jagr on the right. Aside from the obvious sentimental reasons to bring Jagr back to Pittsburgh, he'd certainly improve the scoring depth of a team that should be a contender this season.