-s of right now Jaromir Jagr is no longer a member of the NHL. The 45 year old Jagr was assigned to Kladno of the Czech league after clearing waivers. Though he remains technically part of the Calgary Flames organization, it seems unlikely that he will make a return to the NHL this season.
If this is the end of Jagr’s NHL career, he’ll finish among the very best that have ever played the game. He ranks third all-time in goals, fifth in assists, second in points and third in games played. He collected a Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1999, and was a five-time league scoring champion. In 208 career playoff games, Jagr recorded 201 points and lifted the Stanley Cup twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first two seasons of his career. Though he was a threat on the powerplay, an incredible 538 of his 766 goals came at even-strength.
Playing for his ninth team in Calgary, he recorded just seven points in 22 games and never fit into their structure after missing all of training camp. Though there remains a possibility that he could return for the playoffs, it is more likely that he’ll retire to the Czech league where he actually owns Kladno. Whether he attempts a comeback in the summer after his current contract expires is unclear, but if he’s played his last game he’ll be remembered as one of the best and most interesting players to ever suit up in the NHL.
With the NBA trade deadline passing this week there is still an opportunity for playoff contending teams to make moves. Now obviously there won’t be any more trades made, but teams can still buy out players and they can move to the team of their chose.
Greg Monroe was just signed by the Boston Celtics on Thursday after being bought out by the Phoenix Suns.
The Atlanta Hawks bought out Marco Belinelli while the Chicago Bulls bought out Tony Allen. If it’s not official yet look for the Memphis Grizzlies to buy out Brandon Wright. Now after being traded there are report that both Joe Johnson and Derrick Rose will be bought out by their new teams.
There will probably be more names added to this list as there are some buy out rumors out there. Here are some of the names that could be bought out.
Corey Brewer by the Los Angeles Lakers, Josh McRoberts by the Dallas Mavericks, Another Hawks buy out could be Ersan Ilyasova and there’s a possibility that Vince Carter could be bought out by the Sacramento Kings. All of these players are on one year deals with their current teams, but there are a couple of other players with extra years on their contracts that could also be bought out. Shabazz Muhammad of the Minnesota Timberwolves is a buy out candidate and is signed through next season. The interesting buy out could be Joakim Noah by the New York Knicks. Noah is signed through the 2019-20 season; so there’s some work there to do if he’s going to be bought out.
Now none of these players are going to sign with a new team and lead them to the NBA title, but they could be an intricate piece of a championship team. Was there a name on the above list that you’d like to see your favorite team sign?
Why does it seem that if you’re a 1st round draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers you have to miss your first season.
It looks like you can add Markelle Fultz to that list that includes Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
On Friday while talking to reporters Philadelphia’s President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo used the word possible when talking about Fultz missing the entire season. Colangelo’s comments don’t necessarily mean that Fultz is likely to sit out the next two months. Still, the latest update doesn’t exactly sound promising.
Reports are that Fultz has had to completely rebuild the muscle memory in his shooting mechanics during his absence. Colangelo did say that Fultz’s current shooting range was “within the paint” before he stopped speaking to reporters.
Fultz is just 19 years old and appeared in just four games this season before being shut down by the 76ers due to a scapular muscle imbalance and soreness in his right shoulder. Fultz averaged 19 minutes a game and was scoring 6 points per game.
As we’ve talked about over and over and even over again there are a ton of unsigned free agents still in baseball and now those players will have a place to work out when spring training starts next week. Any unsigned MLB free agents will have the opportunity to train in Florida at a camp staged by the players union beginning Wednesday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Now there are some limitations on these players with one of the bigger ones being that they can’t use their own coaches and trainers, but the camp will be run by former Houston Astros manager Bo Porter.
Believe it or not this isn’t the first time that this has happened. After an 8-month work stoppage that cancelled the 1994 World Series there was a free agent “showcase” camp held in Florida in 1995.
You can point fingers at either side on why players haven’t been signed and there was a bit of a heated exchange between MLB Commissioner and Tony Clark the Executive Director of the MLBPA this week about the unsigned players.
Players and their agents might have to find a way to accept that baseball is changing and there might not be as many big money contracts out there. If you go back to the last four World Series winners they where teams that were built through that teams farm system and just added the right free agent at the right time. Now if a team doesn’t feel that they’re at a place where they can win a World Series it’s more likely that they’ll build up their farm system instead of trying to reboot with bi money free agents. Contending teams will still add the big time free agents they think they need to win it all, but the teams that are just on the outside looking I might be past those days of spending big money to not win.
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