Jaromir Jagr Wants to Sign Multiyear Deal, and the Florida Panthers Should Too

For the typical NHL player, it’s awfully difficult to stand up to major league speed at the age of 35. The league itself recognizes this, and since 2005, it has included special rules in its collective bargaining agreement specifically for dealing with the contracts of players age 35 and over.

So when Jaromir Jagr casually mentions that he’d like to sign a deal with the Panthers that takes him to his 45th birthday, there’s nothing mundane about it.

The comments came in a recent interview with the Czech publication Czech Daily Sport and were translated into English by NHL.com’s Michael Langr.

“It's still too soon to anticipate anything, but there is a pretty big chance we'll come to an agreement [with Florida],” said Jagr. “It depends on the club. If they want to sign me for one year, or for two years.”

Andy Marlin/Getty Images

The Panthers added Jagr at the trade deadline in a deal with New Jersey. It was an odd trade in some ways; Florida was outside the playoffs when it acquired Jagr, and the deal was bookended by trades that sent Sean Bergenheim and Tomas Fleischmann to other NHL cities in exchange for draft picks. Adding a 43-year-old pending unrestricted free agent is not usually the action of a seller.

It didn't work out for the team in the sense of giving it the necessary boost to make the playoffs, but Jagr himself has fit in brilliantly. After posting 29 points in 57 games with the Devils, he’s at nearly a point-per-game pace in Florida, having managed 14 in 18 contests. He’s shooting more frequently, too, taking one more shot every two games than he did in New Jersey.

Jagr made it clear to Czech Daily Sport that he is thankful for the opportunity:

"

I wasn't the one to choose, where I would [be traded]. But thank God for how it all turned out. ... They play a different style that fits me well. It's fast hockey and even someone might say it's not good for me, I think it is. The practices are at the highest tempo and when I'm on the ice during the games with those kids, I know each shift I have a chance to score. Sometimes I touch the puck just once and suddenly I'm open in front of the goal.

"

How rejuvenated is Jagr? Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston recently reported that the winger thinks he has seven more years left in him and said that while some of the media who heard the comment might have taken it as a joke, “it was actually one of the rare moments when he wasn't smiling or laughing.”

He’s certainly not showing any signs of being ready for retirement. Yes, he’s scoring at a laudable rate, but he’s also posting crooked possession numbers. Jagr has the best on-ice Corsi (a plus/minus of all shot attempts, for and against) of any Panthers forward to play more than 10 games this season, and he’s done it while starting more shifts in the defensive than the offensive zone.

Jagr brings a wealth of experience and history to a young Florida team. His focus and off-ice workout habits have become legend. Add to that the fact that he is still clearly one of the best players on the ice, and the question isn’t whether the Panthers should sign Jagr to a two-year deal; rather, it's how quickly they can get him to agree to one.

Statistics courtesy of war-on-ice.com and NHL.com. 

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.