Whither Jagr?

He remains the second best hockey player to ever call Pittsburgh home, and he also remains misunderstood and his legacy is still forming, and even if much of his issues are self-inflicted, there can be no question that Jaromir Jagr is a great player. How good?

He's won two Cups and more than rode shotgun, scoring some huge goals in those playoffs, yet is still thought of as hockey's Alex Rodriguez - which is silly. Does he need some cathartic event to rally people to understand how good he is and has been? Does he need a summer playing with Gretzky to "learn to win" or does he need a comeback from Hodgkin's or a three year layoff for us to appreciate him? To many, Mario needed those events to make him the player he became and give him the aura he grew into, which is hogwash - he was a great player without those events. But they served to make him greater in the eyes of those who tune in occasionally. He would have won Cups without playing with Gretzky (BTW - have you gone over the Pens lineup for those Cup years? Simply amazing talent - compare it to the Oilers dynasty teams and it holds its own), and he was already the best player in the game for a long time, dedicated to winning and overcoming long odds before he had Hodgkin's or staged any comeback.

We should appreciate Jagr (even if he plays for the hated Blueshirts) for the great player he is, not the Alex Rodriguez and certainly not the Scottie Pippen of hockey, and stop criticizing him for things he has not done. That list is short, what he has done, when you think about it in comparison to other hockey players is simply amazing.

Some Jagr notes:

• Someone from Dallas tries to assess where Jagr will rank among all-time greats when he's done. It's an interesting question but one I wish someone who can remember Jagr beyond 1992 would tackle - 1999 anyone:

• Jagr to the Oilers? Eklund is the source of more wild rumors than Gammons but still...
• The Rangers are in first place, yet they are hopping on the what's wrong with Jagr bandwagon already.
  
• Then again, maybe the Rangers should trade him since he's going to need a new contract after this season if he reaches some lofty milestones, which he might do after sidekick Marty Straka returns from injury (I love Straka but how fortunate has he been to play with Jagr all these years in Pgh and NYC? I mean they are a Butch and Sundance, PB & J, Bonnie & Clyde kind of team.). But if they do, they should forget about opening next season in Prague.
  

Sickest High School Play Ever?

Unbelievable finish to the WPIAL AAAA title game at Heinz. Three TDs in the final 1:02 topped by a play that pros can't pull off. Kudos to Central and Gateway for a great game. Here's the youtube link, hopefully someone will post one of better quality, but you will still appreciate it:

Pens Off Day Notes

Turning from one disappointment to another (so far):

• Colby 1-goal Armstrong and Mark 2-goal Recchi appear to be fighting to get in the lineup. Why either might play on the second line, only Therrien knows: The second line had center Evgeni Malkin with Erik Christensen on one side and Colby Armstrong and Mark Recchi alternating on the other, raising the question of whether Therrien might choose between Armstrong and Recchi to be in the lineup tomorrow.
• Tomorrow's game is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving game. As I've written in the past, it used to be THE game of the year to attend. It no longer is: the Pens have taken to playing on the road or not at all on the day and nowadays it seems like the night before Turkey crowd has already ingested their turkey, often sitting on their hands.
• Perusing the league leaders:

POINTS
1. Lecavalier 14/20 34 +10
2. Zetterberg 14/16 30 +9
3. Crosby 11/19 30 0
4. Kovalchuk 17/12 29 +3
5. Sundin 10/17 27 +8
6. St. Louis 8/19 27 +8
7. Malkin 7/20 27 -1

Nice, but the only two guys not over 0 +/- are Pens.

• The NHL Network is on the air and it is great. For those who don't have it, run to get it, no better time filler exists; just Tivo some of their shows and you can entertain yourself endlessly. A couple of things I picked up watching it:
• "Classic Series" reviews the ups and downs of great playoff series of the past. Many of these shows have aired series from the 90s and featured the Pens. Watching the Pens at their high flying best is stunning and maybe best of all, watching Ronnie Francis take over the 92 Ranger series is something special and shouldn't be forgotten. That said, Kevin Stevens, wow, you forget how good and dominating he was, even on his own without 66.
• After watching winning series, I put myself through the 93 loss to the Isles. What is stunning is how different the game was played: goalies standing up, not tight checking, giveaways aplenty. Made for some wild games. Despite all that went on in that series, watching Benoit Hogue beat Barrasso from the blue line to give the Isles a 3-1 lead in the third period of game 7 was shocking, a goal that should never have gone in (unlike Volek's OT goal).
  
• Earlier in the series, Tom Fitzgerald (now Pens Director of Player Development) beat Barrasso twice shorthanded on the same Pens PP with slappers high to the glove side leading to an Isles win. Surely he remembered those shots three years later when he put a blue line slapper past Barrasso in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals to win it for the Panthers (probably the most disappointing Pens game I've ever attended).
• Do yourself a favor and watch some of 99's early 80s games and compare the style of play to today and even to the early 90s. Not even close, Gretzky is a great player, but some of what he was able to pull would never go down today. Still, it is exciting what he and those Oilers could do.

• The Toronto Globe and Mail does a nice summary of the shootout that has now been around for several years and how GMs are still clueless about their value. A couple of thoughts:
• The Pens a middling at SOs: 18th overall at 12-13.
• The Moose has been the 2nd best Goalie at stopping shootouts
• Contrary to popular beliefs, Marc-Andre Fleury is not among the worst goalies

• I have a hard time agreeing with him about anything else, but Madden does have some sense about hockey. He thinks Recchi and Roberts should be gone.
• Canadian Idol. In case we forget how big 87 is in the Great White North.
• I queried Dave Molinari this week about the Pens blue line needs. I think they can upgrade everywhere but need someone to get the puck out of their end and up to their forwards, Dave thinks they need a big bruiser to go with Orpik. Here is a summary of our exchange:
  Dave,
  What's your take on Brooks Orpik's play so far? To me, he's been by far their best defenseman, not only maintaining his physical play, but also looking very smooth skating wise, he may be the quickest blueliner on the roster (not saying too much I know). While Orpik continues to improve, others have not. Any mention of Whitney and Norris in the same sentence should be forever forbidden - he is good offensively but much closer to Gonchar in his own end than to Lidstrom. Gonchar remains Gonchar. Sydor admittedly started slowly, Eaton looks lost at times and Scuderi just looks slow and indecisive. More than a physical d-man, I'd love to see them pick up a guy who can move the puck up to the forwards in a spot where they can press the attack instead of just slamming it off the boards.
  DM:
  1) Orpik is having a better year than many people realize, and he's their only physical presence on the blue line.
  2) I don't know of anyone who has spoken of Whitney as a Norris candidate this season. Down the road, maybe.
  3) A defenseman's primary job is to play defense, so having somebody who's willing to clear people from the front of the net is more important to me at this point than getting another guy capable of throwing a good breakout pass. Not that having one of those would hurt, obviously.
  
  

By The Tues

• Maybe we've discovered the real reason there were so many Steeler fans invading NJ on Sunday. Guess the open air rotundas don't provide the same atmosphere: Halftime Harassment.
• PFW drops the Steelers to 5th in their power poll, only down a spot.

• He's tied for first among defensemen in scoring this year and is second over the past 7, trailing only Nik Lidstrom, yet is not on the All-Star ballot, maybe that's because people call his position defenseman, not forward. Still, he should be on the ballot, those All-Star games don't have any defense.
• Sid echoes my response if someone tried to doll me up in black leather jackets for a few pics. At least he keeps a good head about him despite all the extra things he does off the ice that we don't normally see:
  

  "I'll wear whatever you want, but I wouldn't usually wear this stuff," said Crosby, who arrived in jeans, a T-shirt, a gray hoodie and a Reebok ballcap.

• They're still here!!! The Bucs may roll out the carpet for Gary Varsho today!! Bring back the golden ages. This must mean that Cecil Espy and Joe Orsulak will be coaches too.
• A new Q&A on the Bucs site where fans continue to get all hepped up if marginal Jack Wilson were ever to leave the Burgh. Of course in the same Q&A fans ask about bringing back Jason Kendall and Barry Bnds - what is it with former Pirates coming back? Get over it! Especially Kendall, who didn't leave town a second too early. Thank goodness we have someone named Jenifer Langosch, who lets us know she'll be watching the Missouri/Kansas football game on Saturday (great! Welcome to big time college football guys, while you're at it, maybe you can get over that Civil War thing), to assure us that:
  

  The change in the Pirates' general manager and manager seems to have increased the chances that Wilson will remain with the team next season. So, too, does the fact that the Pirates decided not to exercise the option on Cesar Izturis' contract. Wilson wants to stay, and the rifts that had begun to form between he and the former management should be a non-issue now.

• Two more Steeler questions:
• Are teams taking advantage of Troy's aggressive freelancing? Seems like he's trying to read plays and bust plays up but is getting burned by missed tackles or bad reads.
• Ok, the o-line wasn't responsible for all 7 sacks on Sunday (the WRs, TEs and RBs weren't exactly blameless), but in conjunction with their inability to run the football, is this the worst Steeler o-line we;ve seen since the 6-10 2003 team which had so many injuries that Faneca was forced to play tackle for 6 games? That team didn't make the playoffs BTW, despite having Tommy Maddox at the helm.
  

PFW: Offensive line not getting it done for Steelers

What Big Ben could hide by scrambling and Willie Parker could overcome by sprinting around end against poor defenses can no longer be hidden, the 2007 Steeler o-line is not good:

In short, the Jets won the battle in the trenches and embarrassed a Pittsburgh offensive line that's coming under more and more criticism.

Steeler fans on Jets' turf

Too much ugliness stemming from yesterday to get into it yet. What 24 hours ago looked like a special year, helped by a weak remaining schedule, has turned into a bizarre one leaving no room for error. My thoughts will come eventually I guess, but first some of the only good news to come out of the game yesterday: Steeler fans make another stadium their own, from Ian O'Connor:

In losing seasons past, Jets' fans have quit making the brutal commute from Long Island and Queens. Only it's hard to recall a takeover of a home Jets' game any more hostile and humiliating than this one.