Jagr would win the Pearson that season. He missed 19 games and still came within 1 pt of capturing his second straight Hart trophy. He also won the Art Ross that season.

Had he won the Hart, he would have been only the 4th player in NHL history (after Howe, Esposito and Gretzky) to win all 3 major awards in back-to-back years.

As it stands in 1998-99 and 1999-00 he won a total of 2 Art Ross trophies, 2 Pearsons and 1 Hart. He was as dominant as they came.

North American fans need to get past their hatred for Jagr. He was “one of the greatest” to ever lace them up.

He’s a sure top 15 player and when he finally retires (depending on what he does in the next few years and if he can win a Cup or two as the main scoring threat) then he has a shot to enter the top 5-10 best players list.

He was a Hart finalist 6 times in his career (twice finished 4th in voting as well), only Lemieux, Gretzky, Beliveau, Esposito, Howe and I think Orr and Mikita have had equal or better Hart trophy shared finishes.

Give the guy his due and credit that he has always deserved. He dominated the “Dead Puck Era” when bigger defensemen were allowed to hook you, slash you, hug you and do what ever it took to impede your way to the net and yet despite all that and despite all the double teams he faced, he made NHL defensemen look like pee wee hockey players on a consistent basis.

In my books, only Orr and Lemieux had more pure talent. He was the perfect example of the combination of skill, speed, strength, flash, heart (yes he played hurt almost his entire career, see the 1999 playoffs round 1 series against the heavily favored, 1 # seed Devil as an example of this).

In his prime, he was the league’s best playmaker (led the league in assists 3 times which is almost unheard for a winger, finished top 3 in assists in another 4 times), was a top 2-3 goalscorer (he never led the league in goals but was 2nd in 1994-95, 1995-96, 5th in 1996-97 despite missing 19 games, 2nd in 1998-99, 3rd in 1999-00 despite missing 19 games and 2nd in 2005-06.

He was the league’s best stickhandler, he was the strongest player to knock off the puck (usually required 3 guys who were 6’6 and 230 + lbs on him at the same time andf they were usually unsuccessful). He was a premier skater and was considered the perfect skater as he used his massive legs for balance and to power through players.

if anything, Jagr might be the most underrated player of all-time.

Trottier was a role player playing on the 3rd line when he won a Cup with Pittsburgh.

Guess who was on that team? No other than Lemieux and Jagr and Francis.

I will never deny Gretzky’s talent and place in history (in my books he’s 4th to Howe, Orr and Lemieux) but to use the Cup argument against Jagr is not fair.

Jagr was never surrounded by teams that were threats to win Cups in all those post-Lemieux years.

The teams Jagr led in the late 90′s and in the 2000′s never had the talent, depth, goaltending and defense to compete with the likes of the Avalanche, Red Wings, Stars, Devils, Flyers or even Blues in that era.

People want to talk about the Capitals. That team was weak and despite Jagr not trying his best, still outscored Bondra, Oates, Lang… in that time span.

Jagr still put up over PPG in Washington and in their one trip to the playoffs in his time there. Jagr led the Capitals in playoff scoring.

What was he to do? Play in net, play on defense and play on all 4 lines? He was asked of to be an offensive player (coached by Cassidy who was the worst coach in NHL history and despite being asked to score, was never allowed to do so and was asked to play dump and chase hockey which was never his style).

All Stanley Cup winning teams had depth. When Jagr played on any non-Lemieux teams, they were usually a one-line team and relied heavily on Jagr to score. More times than non, Jagr did his part and then some.

Messier never won a Cup without the affermentioned players and Leetch.

Lemieux never won a Cup without Francis, Jagr… (also Lemieux without Jagr only made the playoffs once in 8 seasons).

Orr never won a Cup without Esposito.

Trottier never won a Cup without Potvin, Bossy and Smyth.

Lafleur never won a Cup without Dryden, Savard, Robinson, Gainey, Demers…

All great players had great teams.

Outside of the years Jagr played alongside Lemieux, how many of the players he played with in the Hall of Fame or Hall of Fame worthy?

Shanahan in New York? Maybe but he was old and way passed his prime.

Bondra? Oates, Kolzig? All borderline Hall of Fame players.

All the other greats that Jagr is compared to played with other sure shot Hall of Fame players.

Jagr is top 10 in every offensive category in playoffs history including PPG, game winning goals, points, overtime game winners.

He won 5 Art Ross trophies (4 without Lemieux while Lemieux only won 2 without Jagr).

When Jagr was the leader of his teams, his teams had no business usually even making the playoffs and they got there on Jagr’s talent alone.

See 1998-2000 Penguins and 2006-2008 Rangers as examples.

In his time as a Pen, I absolutely hated having to watch the Caps face him (and inevitably lose).

When he came to the Caps, I was absolutely one of the blind who thought he would lead the team to a Cup. But although he put up solid numbers (just over a point/game), it was clear, and he has admitted, he did not give it his best effort. The Caps had Jagr, Bondra, Kolzig, Oates, Gonchar, Zubrus, Lang, Nylander, some real solid lineups, but didn’t win a single playoff series in his three season (only made it to playoffs once).

But after going to the Rangers and Philly, I actually started to like the guy. Now that he’s a bit older, I really appreciate his rare talent, that combination of size and hands is special. I don’t think he’d be a top 5 draft pick if you put all the players in history together, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he went top 10.

When I clicked on this story friends, for some inexplicable reason, visions of my last visit to the zoo immediately came to mind ? … I’ve no idea why and it’s very “quizzical” to say the least ?

Just can’t put Jagr in the best ever grouping with the likes of Gretzky, Mario, Orr, and Howe.

Despite being a Pens fan and all the drama this past summer, I’ll always have a special place in my memory for Jagr. Skill that you just can’t help but admire.