The Boston Bruins had the rug pulled out from under them a week ago when they thought they had a deal all wrapped up with the Calgary Flames for veteran winger Jarome Iginla. The trade was even announced by several media services, but it never took place.
Instead, the Flames shipped Iginla off to his preferred destination of Pittsburgh to suit up with the Penguins. Iginla wanted to play with Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby since the two of them performed well together as members of the 2010 Canadian gold-medal winning Olympic team.
Ironically, Crosby was injured in the very first minute of Iginla’s Pittsburgh debut, as he took a puck to the face and is now sidelined with a broken jaw. The Bruins were still looking for veteran leadership and a scoring presence and finally landed those traits when they acquired Jaromir Jagr from the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
The Bruins sent a draft pick and a pair of prospects in exchange for the 41-year-old winger. These were the rights to Cody Payne, who is an unsigned draft choice, as well as forward Lane MacDermid and a conditional second-round draft pick; however, if Boston makes it to the final of the Eastern Conference with Jagr in the lineup this postseason, the draft pick will become a first-rounder.
Joe Nieuwendyk, the general manager of the Stars, thanked Jagr for the effort he gave Dallas this season, but felt the team could strengthen itself in the future with the addition of the prospects and draft choice.
Jagr, who was born in the Czech Republic, is the all-time European-born scorer in the NHL and was signed by the Stars just last summer as a free agent.
He’s currently on a one-year contract worth $4.5 million and will become a free agent again this summer. He was the Stars’ leading scorer this season with 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points after 34 games.
Jagr has been named a first-team NHL All-Star team seven times during his career and has won the Art Ross Trophy five times as the league’s leading scorer. He has 1,679 career points in 1,380 regular season games with 679 goals along with an even 1,000 assists. He’s certain to become a Hall-of-Famer and could possibly still play another two or three years at the top level in the NHL.
Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli said he knew he’d have to give up some youth to obtain Jagr, but felt it was well worth it. The 23-year-old MacDermid has appeared in just eight games with Boston during the last two seasons and was held pointless in those contests. He’s playing in the American Hockey League this season for Providence and has six points on four goals and two assists.
The 19-year-old Payne was chosen by the Bruins in the fifth round of the 2012 entry draft. He’s currently playing junior hockey in the Canadian Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and has 24 goals and 21 assists for 45 points as a member of the Plymouth Whalers.
