Sports

Jaromir Jagr deserves an immediate Hall of Fame call

The reason is unclear why, in 1999, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s board of directors voted to abolish the selection committee’s ability to waive the three-year post-retirement waiting period for induction while contemporaneously awarding the honor to Wayne Gretzky.

But then this is a body — the HHOF, not No. 99 — that operates as the sport’s secret society, explaining nothing to no one while hiding in plain sight and passing behind-closed-doors judgments historically so sage as its continued failure to elect and induct fabled pioneer Willie O’Ree under the builder’s category.

But because the regulations are fungible, surely they can be reversed under exceptional circumstances. And if Jaromir Jagr, back home at last in Kladno, Czech Republic, has proven anything, it is that he represents the most exceptional of circumstances.





And as such, when the Hall of Fame meets for its caucus in late June, the waiting period should be waived for the 68th Wonder of the World so Jagr can take his rightful place among the sport’s immortals at next November’s induction ceremony.

Because let’s face it, delaying Jagr’s election/induction for three years after his pro hockey retirement might last a lifetime.

Jagr the hockey giant has graduated into Jagr the folk hero, perhaps at the cost of remembering his staggering greatness in Pittsburgh and that singularly remarkable season in New York. Jagr was a more dominant player than Sidney Crosby and a greater player than Alex Ovechkin even if recency bias suggests otherwise. In winning the Art Ross Trophy four straight seasons from 1997-98 through 2000-01, he is one of four players in NHL history to lead the league in scoring that many times in a row. The others? Gretzky (seven straight), Phil Esposito and Gordie Howe.





In his first NHL life, from his rookie season in 1990-91 through 2007-08 before leaving for Omsk of the KHL, Jagr averaged 1.256 points per game in the teeth of the trap and obstruction era in which Sixth Avenue countenanced grabbing and interference as a way of leveling the playing field between the league’s big spenders and small marketers. That PPG number is the eighth-best in NHL history.

But the numbers that first act represents don’t tell even the half of it. Because rarely, if ever, has such a high-profile athlete been able to change the narrative the way Jagr did, morphing from sullen heel to folk hero in his late 30s and 40s. It is his second act that renders him unique; his second act that warrants a second look at the 1999 regulation passed by the Hall of Fame board.





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Howe and Mario Lemieux, two of the 10 players for whom the waiting period was waived, came out of retirement to play in the NHL. Guy Lafleur, who was out three years before his induction, returned to the NHL as well as an active player. Each of these men’s presence on the ice elevated the HHOF’s status rather than diminishing it.

If Jagr were to construct an Act III — doubtful, given he told one executive of a club that might have had interest in claiming him off waivers from Calgary last week that he wanted to go home, Slap Shots has learned — his presence on the ice would elevate the institution as well.

Jagr’s transformation began on Broadway in 2005-06 when then-general manager Glen Sather and then-coach Tom Renney transformed the Rangers room into an off-Prague setting in which the winger flourished. Sather and Renney, by the way, are members of the Hall of Fame board of directors.





Teams cross-scout each other extensively at this time of year, not only on the NHL level, but at the AHL and junior levels as well. So it would be ill-advised to make too much of Lightning assistant GM Pat Verbeek’s presence at the Garden last week or Rangers assistant GM Chris Drury’s attendance at the Lightning’s AHL Syracuse game at Utica on Friday.

Know this, however: there is definitely mutual interest in exploring whether a match can be made so that Ryan McDonagh might join Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi with Tampa Bay, whose organization is brimming with young assets, but perhaps none of elite quality.

The Rangers are believed willing to assume up to 50 percent of McDonagh’s $4.7 million cap hit that runs through next year in order to get what the organization believes is a commensurate return for No. 27’s talents.

Minnesota would be a point of interest, as well.

The Blueshirts are also likely to pick up 50 percent of the remainder of premier rental property Rick Nash’s full-season $7.8 million cap hit, with Nashville, Columbus, Dallas, St. Louis, San Jose and perhaps Pittsburgh as relevant parties of the other part.

The Coyotes, we’ve learned, have made it known that Max Domi, with three goals this season and 12 in the two years following his 18-goal rookie season, is there for the taking.

Garth Snow’s text declaration of “I’m not trading John Tavares” made to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun would imply that the Islanders’ GM intends to make a splash the other way at the deadline.

And I’m thinking that you remove Mathew Barzal (and Tavares) from the table and tell Ottawa to take its pick of any four organizational assets in exchange for Erik Karlsson.

We’re told by a faithful correspondent that the Islanders are selling 15-game partial plans for next season that feature the 12 games at the Coliseum and three weekend matches at Barclays Center.

But the available seat locations are limited — corners only in the lower bowl, last five rows only upstairs — and apparently the seats will be assigned by the club rather than selected by the consumer — with the explanation that current full-season subscribers at Barclays must be accommodated first.

When Brad Marchand, portrayed by the network folks as some sort of a lovable street urchin under a five-game sentence for a victimless crime, blew kisses and waved at the crowd upon his introduction at last weekend’s All-Star festivities in Tampa, was the concussed Marcus Johansson able to wave back?

This just in: Pavel Bure has retroactively been awarded a goal on that 1994 Stanley Cup finals Game 4 penalty shot because the referee working the game didn’t think Mike Richter could make the save.





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