Jagr likely to play again Sunday
Flames put veteran on IR after ‘lower body’ injury Saturday against Minnesota
Much to the delight of hockey fans across Canada, Jaromir Jagr was the guest on CBC’s After Hours program following Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
But much to the horror of Calgary Flames fans — particularly the Travelling Jagrs fan club — it was revealed the 45-year-old right winger suffered a lower body ailment (thought to be a groin injury) and was placed on the injured reserve list by the Flames.
The good news? The IR assignment is retroactive to Saturday’s game, meaning Jagr will be available for Sunday’s clash against the visiting Washington Capitals.
“Today I met with the (medical) guys and Jags is coming along real good,” reported Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “We think it’ll probably be about a week and he’ll be back. It’s not something we can see so it’s obviously something soft-tissue.”
Keep in mind Jagr, who signed with the team on Oct. 4, did not participate in a training camp and was extremely mindful of his progress leading up to his debut against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 11.
Perhaps the “hurry-up” mode Jagr was in attributed to the injury?
“We can speculate,” Gulutzan said. “All I know is you look at his career and he hasn’t been out too, too much. He pushed himself really hard to get up and ready. But it’s good we have a guy that has played a lot of games in the league and knows where he’s at.
“He’s in a better spot because he knows his body and knew when to get himself out.”
The living legend has played five games and has two assists for the Flames, his first Canadian NHL team, averaging 11:33 in ice time per game and 2:22 in power play ice time per game.
It’s unclear how Jagr was injured. He only played 3:49 of ice time Saturday, recording one shot on net in four shifts.
“For me, he was right where he needed to be,” Gulutzan said. “He just felt he was feeling good now with his conditioning and his timing and all of that. He was in a real good spot.”
The injury comes at an inconvenient time, considering he just started developing chemistry on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
“I thought we were doing some good things,” Gaudreau said.
“He’s obviously a really skilled player and I’ve liked playing with him the first few games. It was short but we’re back to the rotation.”
Skating in Jagr’s place during Monday’s practice was Micheal Ferland.
The Flames also recalled Mark Jankowski, who was playing centre with Sam Bennett on the left side and Curtis Lazar on the right. The fourth line was made up of Kris Versteeg, Matt Stajan, and Troy Brouwer while the second line — Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik — was kept the same.
Ferland was first placed on the top line when the team stopped in Nashville during last winter’s 10game winning streak. The crashand-bang winger also started the season as part of the first-line trio.
“Ferly’s a great player,” Gaudreau said. “He fits really well with our line. He gets the puck in deep and creates havoc in the offensive zone. He throws his body around and has a great shot. I can’t say enough good things about him.
“He’s a great teammate too … we didn’t have too much success to start the season but hopefully we can do some good things.”