Uniquely talented Jaromir Jagr wanted to play forever

His NHL career finally ended Monday when he cleared waivers with the Flames at age 45 and his contract was sent to his hometown team of Kladno.

By BRUCE ARTHUR

https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/

January 29, 2018

In the end Jaromir Jagr became a figure of sheer accumulation, a living statue in more than one sense. He grew his hair back out into the curling cape that he sported when he was young and electric, but there was grey threaded through the mullet now, and he was slow as a tugboat when he saw the ice. We all decelerate. It just takes some longer than others.

“When you are younger, you know you are going to play for a long time,” Jagr said once. “I appreciate every game I can play. And the more important game it is, the better for me. The way I explain it: I feel like a 70-year-old guy who tried to be alive, and be thankful for every day he can live on this earth. That’s me and the hockey. I appreciate every day I can play.”

Jagr said that six years ago, and his NHL career finally ended Monday when he cleared waivers with the Calgary Flames at age 45 and his contract was sent to his hometown team of Kladno, which he owns. The great Czech is done his work here, after 24 seasons. He didn’t want to leave, but it’s like when Jagr was in a scoring drought in Boston on one of his many late-career stops and he said, shrugging, “It’s tough to fight a God.”

He did it as long as he could, and now the numbers can be carved in stone. 766 goals, third all-time; 1,155 assists, fifth; 1,921 points, a distant second only to Gretzky. He is third in NHL games played with 1,733, just 34 short of Gordie Howe. If Jagr hadn’t fled to the KHL for three seasons he would be No. 1; but then, Gordie played another 419 games in the WHA, too. Jagr won one Hart Trophy but three Lester B. Pearson awards as the best player as chosen by other players; he won five scoring titles and two Stanley Cups. Jaromir Jagr, by every measure, is one of the best hockey players ever.

And there was nobody like him. It always felt written that Jaromir was an anagram of Mario Jr., but while Mario became an imperial figure, Jagr was a joker, and stayed a joker. He was preposterously talented, but lived for fun. He drove his car too fast. He gambled a lot, and we don’t know if he ever stopped. His grin was blinding, or when he was bearded, wolfish. Some people saw a glory boy, a moody diva, a three-dollar bill. Sometimes, they might have been right.

But he was also the horse who saved the Penguins franchise from possible relocation when he produced a playoff series win over the mighty Devils in 1999 — that was the year when, as recounted by Sports Illustrated’s Michael Farber, Gretzky told Jagr he was the best player in hockey — and then forced his way out of Pittsburgh to Washington, where he was called a coach-killer and was traded to New York.

There was the KHL, where he was on the bench beside Alexei Cherepanov when the kid collapsed and died during a game, too. He didn’t often talk about that. When Jagr returned he was truly a workout demon: early skates with ankle weights and a weighted vest, stretching, endless work. In Boston, where he was forced to backcheck, Jagr said if he was his younger self, “I would probably, you know, score five or six goals, and nobody would do anything, maybe say you can do whatever you want. But it’s 2013.”

He carried around a little bronze Madonna and child, and kept it in his locker; he once said that if he hadn’t been a hockey player, he would have become a priest. He pushed the younger players he played with, showed them night skating and extra weights and a fidelity to hockey that felt like religion. Many of them followed his teachings, and learned.

When he got the assist that pushed him past Mark Messier into second-place all-time on the scoring list Jagr said, “I thought I was going to score goal or make a beautiful assist. But it hit my ass.” He got slow, became a huge posterior-first hulk who could read the angles and hold the puck forever and was all but wearing snowshoes, and he still led two different teams in scoring after he turned 40.

And at the end, as he begged and cajoled over Twitter for another job, his fidelity to the game started to feel a little like fear. From the time he was a child, Jaromir Jagr never wanted to stop playing hockey. He needed it. What else was there?

And maybe we misunderstood him. Maybe he only made it look easy for so long. Maybe he really did do 1,000 squats a day from the time he was seven years old. Maybe it was true when Jagr told TSN’s Ray Ferraro he was moody when he was young because he felt the pressure of his ability, and that he hated the feeling when everyone was looking at him to produce, and he knew he didn’t have it. He said that feeling was the worst in the world.

Maybe he was always the boy who missed the friends he grew up with in Kladno behind the Iron Curtain, whose father yelled constantly when he was on the ice, who had trouble trusting people. Maybe he really did feel the pressure of his ability, especially without Mario, and that really was one reason he went to the KHL, as he got older.

Maybe we never really knew Jaromir Jagr, all the way to the end. In 1997, in a quiet moment, Jagr told Pittsburgh reporters, including the Post-Gazette’s Joe Starkey, “I don’t think I’m a strong person. I try to be. I’m not. I just act that way. I’ve got too much feeling to be a tough person. I gotta act like I do, because a lot of people will take advantage of me and hurt me. Sometimes you gotta be mean. I know it’s not me, but it has to be that way. I just have to act tough or whatever. Be cocky.” Maybe he was the boy his father yelled at, the whole time.

But maybe he became that strong person, too. At the end he said, “I think I got to the point where hard work make me happy. And I think that’s the best thing that happened to me in my life. Some people are happy when they have a day off — I’m the opposite way. And I don’t know why it’s that, but that’s just me. And I’m just doing that to be happy. Strange stuff, but that’s how I would describe it.”

Jaromir Jagr wanted to play hockey forever, and he came near enough. He was brilliant, fun, infuriating and wise. He was his own singular person, and he will always be one of those players who you can imagine as soon as you close your eyes. And maybe, if you want to play forever, that’s as close as you can get.

THE END FOR AN ICON: JAGR SET TO CLOSE THE BOOK ON LEGENDARY NHL CAREER

By: Jared Clinton

http://www.thehockeynews.com/

January 29, 2018

Waived by the Flames and unclaimed by the rest of the league, Jaromir Jagr appears ready to close the book on his superlative NHL career and skate off into the sunset overseas.

So, it appears this is how it ends. After 24 seasons and more than 1,700 games, Jaromir Jagr’s Hall of Fame NHL tenure looks to be coming to a close. Placed on waivers by the Calgary Flames on Sunday, Jagr officially cleared waivers on Monday and will now begin looking towards continuing his playing days outside of the league he has called home for the majority of his legendary career.

It’s undoubtedly an unfitting end to what will almost assuredly be Jagr’s final NHL season. Truthfully, it’s a scenario few saw coming even when Jagr, 45, struggled to find work in the off-season. Believed by many to still be one of the best available free agent wingers despite his advanced age, and coming off a season in which he scored 16 goals and 46 points, Jagr’s services weren’t retained by the Florida Panthers, giving way to a months-long search for his next home in the NHL. It took until Oct. 2, mere days before the season, for Jagr to land a deal with the Flames. But what seemed at the time like it could be a fit — a place to play a lesser role and contribute as a third-liner on a relatively young team — turned out to be the exact opposite.

Jagr only managed to suit up in 22 games this season, over which time he scored one goal and seven points with an average ice time of little more than 13 minutes. That’s four fewer minutes per game than last season and a scoring rate that's far below his more than point-per-game career average. It didn’t help matters that Jagr, a workout fiend whose dedication to remaining in shape has kept his career alive much longer than anyone could have expected, wasn’t able to shake lower-body injuries since joining the Flames. It’s the first time since his NHL return in 2011-12 that Jagr has truly been hampered by ailments. He had, at most, missed nine games in a single season and a total of 20 games in the six previous campaigns. This season, he missed two dozen games since falling injured in late October.

But no matter the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Jagr’s exit from the NHL, and regardless of how poorly this last hurrah has gone or where he ends up next, one can rest assured this season won’t be how one of the game’s true greats will be remembered. As he skates off into the sunset, Jagr ends his NHL tenure as a giant of the sport whose talents have awed generations of fans. 

Drafted fifth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990, Jagr broke into the league only months later and finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting among a star-studded class that included Ed Belfour, Sergei Fedorov, Mike Richter and Rob Blake. Over the next several seasons, Jagr established himself as one of the league’s premier players, one of the very brightest stars in the NHL galaxy. The first indications of Jagr’s greatness came early in his career. As a rookie, he chipped in as a secondary scorer on the star-studded Stanley Cup-winning 1991 Penguins before becoming one of the team’s leaders en route to a second straight title the following year. And his goal in Game 1 of the 1992 Stanley Cup final against the Chicago Blackhawks, a now iconic sequence in which he skated through a handful of defenders before backhanding the puck past Belfour, remains one of the greatest moments of his illustrious career.

Jagr’s true coming-out party, however, came when the then-22-year-old took over the temporarily Mario Lemieux-less Penguins in 1994-95. Jagr posted a league-best 70 points in the lockout-shortened 48-game season, winning his first of five Art Ross Trophies — he won four in a row from 1997-98 through 2000-01 — and finished second in Hart Trophy voting as the league’s MVP. And despite years of 149 points, 95 points and 102 points in the three following seasons, the Hart would continue to evade Jagr until the 1998-99 campaign when he won three pieces of premier hardware at the NHL Awards: the Hart, Art Ross and Pearson, awarded to the league’s MVP as judged by the players. Jagr went on to add two more Pearsons to his trophy case.

The second chapter of Jagr’s career began in 2001-02, after a blockbuster trade sent him to Washington. As a Capital, Jagr continued to be one of the league’s best offensive forces, a better than point-per-game player during the height of the Dead Puck Era, but his tenure in Washington was over shortly after it began. Two-plus seasons later, he was moved to the New York Rangers, which signalled the start of a marauding, meandering path for Jagr. 

What started in New York took Jagr, somewhat surprisingly, to Russia, where he spent three seasons with the KHL's Avangard Omsk before making a much-celebrated return to the NHL, signing with the Penguins' biggest rival, the Philadelphia Flyers. The signing began the "hired gun" era of Jagr’s career in which he played for five teams across four seasons, including the Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils and Panthers. It was in Florida, ironically known tongue-in-cheek for its retirement community, where Jagr experienced a late-career rejuvenation that breathed new life into his already outstanding body of work. Over the next two-plus seasons, Jagr turned back the clock with his offensive brilliance while shepherding in a new generation of star offensive players in Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov.

For most, those years as a Panther will be how Jagr’s final NHL seasons are remembered, not only because they were successful on the ice, either. Rather, most will recall them as the years Jagr became one of the sport’s most beloved figures. In his early years, some saw the mullet-wearing, post-goal-saluting, high-scoring Jagr as a player with an attitude and he had his fair share of detractors. Those feelings lessened upon his return to the NHL with the Flyers, to be sure, but there was no time Jagr was more beloved as a player than his days as a Panther. He was voted by fans to take a place among the all-stars as the Atlantic Division captain in 2015-16, he was at times followed by a legion of supporters known as "The Travelling Jagrs" and there wasn’t a building in the league where fans were anything but excited to catch a glimpse of a true living hockey legend. It didn’t hurt, of course, that he brought the mullet back. In hockey parlance, Jagr’s luscious locks were flow before flow was flow.

And as fans across the league cheered Jagr, they watched his pursuit of history and cheered as he rewrote pages of the NHL record book. Over the past two seasons, that included moving past Marcel Dionne and Brett Hull into third place on the all-time goals list, where he sits with 766 tallies to his name. We also saw Jagr chase down and surpass Paul Coffey to move into fifth all-time with 1,155 assists. But no moments in the past two-plus campaigns of Jagr’s NHL tenure have been as important as points No. 1,851 and No. 1,888. The former moved Jagr past Gordie Howe, Mr. Hockey himself, for third in all-time scoring. The latter was the point that pushed Jagr one ahead of Mark Messier and into second place on the all-time list behind Wayne Gretzky. It’s a place in the record books befitting Jagr, who is a surefire Hall of Fame talent the likes of which has rarely graced the ice and a caliber of athlete, with a combination of skill, dedication and longevity, the NHL may never see again.

UPDATE: The Flames have officially assigned Jagr to HC Kladno.

"I want to thank Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames for giving me the immense opportunity to be a part of their team and continue my NHL career this season," Jagr said in a statement. "Although I am very disappointed that things did not turn out as we had hoped due to a number of circumstances, I am deeply grateful to the Flames, the fans and the City of Calgary for having welcomed me so generously. I now look forward to continuing the season in Kladno."

From his point total to his 1,000-squats-a-day streak, Jaromir Jagr's most lasting legacy will be longevity

http://www.espn.com/nhl/

January 29, 2018

Jaromir Jagr was placed on waivers by the Calgary Flames on Sunday. If the 45-year-old future Hall of Famer clears, it could spell the end of his illustrious NHL career. Our writers weigh in on his most lasting legacy.

What's the most impressive stat of Jagr's illustrious NHL career?

Greg Wyshynski, senior writer: The most impressive stat of Jagr's career? Sorry, but I have to go with the obvious: 1,921 points in 1,733 games, second-best in NHL history to Wayne Gretzky (2,857).

It's a humbling stat, a tribute both to Jagr's unparalleled offensive abilities as well as his longevity. Consider that from 2011, when he was 39, through this season, when he was 45, Jagr had the same points per game average as Matt Duchene and Jonathan Huberdeau (0.7) and a higher one than James van Riemsdyk's (0.69) and Ryan Johansen's (0.66).

It's also a stat that reminds us that -- unlike Gretzky, who scored 1,700 of his points in the offense-friendly 1980s, mostly with the Edmonton Oilers -- Jagr's point totals were compiled during several seismic stylistic shifts in the NHL: from the tail end of the 1980s goal boom through the "dead puck" era through the post-lockout offensive recovery of NHL 2.0. It reminds us that the young right winger, who used to blaze down the ice like a comet before unleashing some unstoppable move for a goal, grew up to become the crafty pro with the low center of gravity who would back up defenders like an NBA power forward.

But the stat I've been thinking about all weekend is this one: 216 different players have an assist on one of Jagr's goals in the NHL. That includes Flames left winger Johnny Gaudreau, who proudly told ESPN at the NHL All-Star Game that he may have assisted on Jagr's final NHL goal.

Gaudreau was born on Aug. 13, 1993. Jagr had already notched 220 career points by then.

What a remarkable career.

Emily Kaplan, national NHL reporter: Jagr has reportedly been doing 1,000 squats per day since he was 7 years old. That means he has done nearly 14 million squats. I'm kidding -- not about the validity of the stat (according to ESPN Stats & Information, it's true!) but that it's my favorite Jagr stat. The truth is, no matter how folksy we build Jagr up to be, or how many colorful anecdotes we can collect, the most noteworthy thing about Jaromir Jagr is his longevity. It's impressive among athletes across all sports.

Consider: Jagr was drafted in 1990. No other active player in the four major North American pro sports leagues was drafted before 1994. There's also this: Jagr was drafted two months after Emmitt Smith was picked by the Dallas Cowboys. Smith retired as the NFL's all-time rushing leader 13 years ago. And one more while we're at it: The oldest active player in the NBA is Vince Carter (41 years old). Jagr already had 322 goals and 807 points in his NHL career when Carter made his NBA debut.

Jagr was largely immune to the kryptonyte that typically foils stars: injuries, feuds, ego, the game changing around him, hirings, firings. (He did, after all, play for 22 different head coaches). None of it seemed to faze Jagr. He was as sturdy -- and ubiquitous -- as they come. It's a shame that it appears he's hanging up his skates just 34 games shy of Gordie Howe's record for games played. But it's better to marvel at the good. Jagr is a treasure. How he lasted this long is beyond me -- though maybe we should stop asking for the secret and realize it's probably simple. Start squatting, everyone.

Chris Peters, NHL Insider: There are so many amazing stats from Jagr's career, but I don't think I'll ever forget his performance during the 2015-16 season with the Florida Panthers. He put up 66 points in 79 games to lead that team in scoring en route to 47 wins and a first-place finish in the Atlantic Division. Over the course of his career, Jagr did so many things that wowed us, but this is the season that made me wonder whether the man was human at all. He finished seventh in Hart Trophy voting that year -- and it really wasn't a stretch to see him in the top 10.

That was by far the best season by anyone age 43 or older in NHL history in terms of point production.Mark Messier had 43 points in his final season, at age 43 in 2003-04. In a much faster NHL, Jagr bested that by 23 points in just three more games played. He also helped energize and maximize two exciting young forwards in Aleksander Barkov and Huberdeau, with whom the living legend spent most of the season playing alongside. To just contribute for the Panthers would have been impressive. Jagr was a driving force and leading scorer for a team that finished atop its division. Unfortunately, the run of good fortune and age-defying good vibes ran out in the first round of the playoffs against the New York Islanders, but that season will go down as one of my favorites of Jagr's career.

Beyond the insanity of his performance at that age, it was special for so many of us because Jagr is (or was) one of the last remaining threads to our childhood fandom. I was 6 years old when Jagr entered the NHL. I still have his rookie card tucked away in a box somewhere in my parents' house. I still recall proudly showing the card to my dad and announcing that I had a "Jeremiah Jagger" in the pack. During his throwback season in Florida a few years ago, Jagr was a living, skating and scoring reminder of those times, when that passion for the game was just budding for so many fans around my age. It was way too much fun and will stand out far more than the way things are winding down for Jagr now.

Five thoughts on Jaromir Jagr and the Penguins

By Kevin Gorman

http://triblive.com/sports/

January 29, 2018

1. Farewell, Jags: Jaromir Jagr's NHL career appeared to come to an end without much fanfare Monday when he cleared waivers, paving his return to play for Kladno in the Czech Republic.

That's not the way one of hockey's all-time greats should go out, but nothing about Jagr's career has been conventional.

Jagr ranks second in NHL history in points (1,921), third in games (1,733) and goals (766) and fifth in assists (1,155) and won two Stanley Cup championships, five scoring titles, three Lester B. Pearson awards, one Hart Trophy and the Masterton.

But he also played for nine teams over 27 seasons, which gave him the reputation as something of a mercenary. What fans forget is that Jagr played the bulk of his career for only three teams – the Penguins, Capitals and Rangers – over his first 18 seasons.

Jagr didn't start bouncing around the league until the age of 39, when most players are long retired.

2. Older than … me: What's amazing, at least to me, is that Jagr is 45 – and only 17 days away from his 46th birthday – which makes him exactly one year and five days older than me.

I've been a sports writer since my days at The Purbalite student newspaper at Baldwin High School, and I was a senior when Jagr made his debut with the Penguins in 1990.

If you are too young to remember Jagr with the Penguins, I'll put it this way: The JuJu Mania over Steelers rookie receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster this past fall was nothing compared to this city's love affair with a teenage Jagr and his magnificent mullet.

When I started covering college sports, I was the same age as the athletes I wrote about. When I started covering pro sports, I was about the same age as most of the athletes I wrote about. But when you hit 40, you're typically older than every athlete. So, it's weird to watch guys younger than you retire.

Jagr was the exception, until now.

3. A second career: If Jagr's tenure with the Penguins seems like a lifetime ago, that's because they traded him to the Washington Capitals in July 2001.

Most NHL players would be thrilled to play 927 games and score 842 points (327 goals and 515 assists) over 16-plus seasons – and that's only Jagr's post-Penguins career statistics.

Jagr scored 439 goals and had 640 assists in 806 games with the Penguins, including 446 points (173 goals, 273 assists) from 1997-2001. That's following Mario Lemieux's initial retirement, when Jagr assumed the mantle as the game's greatest player.

Consider: Sidney Crosby just passed Jagr three days ago for second place in scoring in franchise history.

There's no point in comparing eras, especially when Jagr started his career alongside Lemieux and a more talented cast than Crosby did. But it took Crosby, who had three injury-shortened seasons in his prime, 27 more games than Jagr to surpass 1,079 points – and Crosby has long been considered the world's best player.

But Jagr demanded the trade and then skipped his homecoming.

4. About that...: It's understandable that the Penguins and their fans are still upset that Jagr passed on Lemieux's offer to return and retire with the organization in which he started his career.

It's understandable that the Penguins and their fans are still upset that Jagr signed with the arch-rival Flyers, who knocked the Penguins out of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals in 2012.

What doesn't make sense is the grudge they carry for Jagr taking a better deal. The Penguins offered a one-year, $2-million deal. The Flyers offered a one-year, $3.3-million deal.

That doesn't make Jagr greedy.

It makes him smart.

What made the Penguins look dumb is that then-general manager Ray Shero pulled the offer to Jagr and gave that money to Tyler Kennedy. It looked like a good move at the time, given that Jagr was 39 and out of the NHL since 2008 and Kennedy was only 24 and coming off a 21-goal and 45-point season.

“We made what we thought was a very fair contract offer to Jaromir on Tuesday, based on his stated interest of returning to the Penguins,” Shero said. “We made our best offer from the start, given our salary-cap structure, in an attempt to facilitate a deal. But now, after several days, with an extended time frame for making a decision and additional teams getting involved, we have decided to move in a different direction.”

But Jagr scored 89 points the next two seasons in Philly, while Kennedy scored 44 over that span for the Penguins.

Turns out, Jagr was worth twice as much.

5. Forever a Penguin: The Penguins and their fans should embrace that Jagr is a major part of three banners hanging from the rafters at PPG Paints Arena: Two celebrating Cup championships and another celebrating scoring titles.

It's nice to know that the last time Jagr visited Pittsburgh, Penguins fans gave him an ovation. The next time he returns, it should be to see his No. 68 retired and raised to the rafters.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.

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Penguins haven't figured it out yet

By Mark Madden

http://triblive.com/sports/

January 27, 2018

Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his first period goal against the Minnesota Wild at PPG Paints Arena on January 25, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)

Whatever it was the Penguins didn't have, they still hadn't found as 2017 turned to 2018.

Call it an excuse. Call it a reason. The Penguins had played 213 games over the prior two seasons. Tired physically and fatigued mentally, the Penguins couldn't find traction. Any sign of a turnaround proved a false dawn.

But they're 8-3 in January. For almost 50 minutes of Thursday's home win against Minnesota, the Penguins looked like they often did during their Stanley Cup runs in '17 and '16: They had touch and zip and made a good team look like a bunch of bums, racing to a 6-0 lead.

Then the Penguins allowed three goals in 182 seconds, reminding us that they may not be quite back to peak form.

The citizens debated (and still do) fourth-line right wings, bottom-pair defensemen, line combinations and the need for a No. 3 center. Which exists, but perhaps isn't as excruciating as imagined.

But when the big boys showed up, all that babble became superfluous.

Not that Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin weren't present and accounted for at any point during the season. But with the important games not too far away and no ticket to participate yet punched, the Penguins' holy trinity found another gear and the wins started coming with more frequency.

A team doesn't always go as its best players do. But that's certainly the way to bet.

Crosby, Kessel and Malkin are each well over a point per game. Kessel, perhaps the Penguins' most consistent performer this campaign, is just five points off the NHL scoring lead.

Kessel got gypped out of playing for the U.S. in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. He got swindled out of a spot in Sunday's NHL All-Star event. If Kessel wins the scoring title, they probably won't give him the Art Ross Trophy.

Kessel has five goals and 11 assists in January's 11 games. Malkin, consistently looking to create his own shot, has nine goals and seven assists.

But in January, Crosby has been the best of the bunch, back to being the top hockey player in the world. The captain has three goals and 17 assists this month, playing between Conor Sheary and Dominik Simon the way Mario Lemieux did between Rob Brown and Bob Errey.

OK, maybe not quite that good. But you get the idea.

All you have to do to play on Crosby's line is skate fast and execute give-and-go plays. He'd be the first to confirm.

It's simple but electrifying. Witness Crosby's elevation of rookie Simon — doing what Daniel Sprong was supposed to, with three goals in the last two games — and Crosby giving defenseman Brian Dumoulin an empty net to hit in the win over Minnesota.

Stir in a soul-crushing power play that converts a league-best 27.1 percent of the time, and business clearly has picked up.

You hope.

There are still issues: Goalie Matt Murray has to get back to where he was the past two seasons. Murray has been good but not good enough, which makes him the personification of the Penguins before January.

The same goes for Kris Letang, who hasn't been nearly as bad as his critics yelp but isn't as consistent as the Penguins need.

Jamie Oleksiak has stabilized the defense corps' bottom pair. Ian Cole is better than Matt Hunwick, but coach Mike Sullivan doesn't think so.

Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary must score a bit more but not a lot more.

The penalty kill has morphed from rotten to sublime, executing 36 out of 39 times over the last 14 games. The Penguins' PK ranks seventh in the NHL with a success rate of 82.8 percent.

So, about that third-line center spot …

It won't be an easy deal for general manager Jim Rutherford to make. A prominent employee of an NHL team said that other GMs are tired of the Penguins winning, and most are unlikely to make a trade that helps them.

The latest grist for the mill has Edmonton center Mark Letestu coming to Pittsburgh.

You may remember Letestu. Barely. He played 85 games for the Penguins between 2009-11, scoring 15 times.

Letestu has done OK in Edmonton, scoring 24 goals in 126 games between this season and last. But 14 of those goals have come on the power play, where the Penguins decidedly do not need Letestu beyond (perhaps) the second unit.

Letestu, 32, is small (5-foot-10) and not at all physical. But he has good hockey sense and plays both ends. Letestu is a good right-handed faceoff man, winning almost 53 percent of his draws this season.

Letestu, in the last year of his contract, makes $1.8 million. He's affordable. Edmonton might not ask too much in return.

Letestu probably isn't exactly what's wanted. (For example, a left-handed center would be a better fit for Kessel if Sullivan insists on dividing his star forwards among three lines.) But the Penguins would be better with Letestu centering the third line and Riley Sheahan on the fourth.

Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).

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Francis Okupa, KweseESPN

http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers

January 26, 2018

Oct 22, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers offensive guard David DeCastro (66) blocks at the line of scrimmage against Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins (97) during the first quarter at Heinz Field. The Steelers won 29-14. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Half an hour after their Divisional playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room stood mostly empty, and fairly quiet. Right guard David DeCastro was one of the last players to leave, slowly getting dressed to face the frigid weather outside.

Standing by his locker in the vast black and gold room, DeCastro's intimidating 6'5" 316lb frame contrasted with his polite and humble demeanor. His willingness to converse with reporters, even after tough games, is well documented, and it remained true here, despite the crushing disappointment of the day.

That polite attitude to the press is fairly typical of South African sportsmen, and with his body he'd have been a monster on a rugby field, had his parents remained in the Republic after meeting at the University of Cape Town. A lock, perhaps, or maybe Eighth Man?

DeCastro, born in Kirkland, just east of Seattle, to South African parents, agrees that rugby could have been his path, telling KweséESPN, "I think if my dad had got a job [in South Africa] we would have ended up moving there and I would probably be playing rugby or something."

But that was not his fate, to the ever-thankful delight of Steelers' fans, who will have their wounds slightly soothed by watching him play in the Pro Bowl on 28 January, his third consecutive appearance.

This season, Pro Football Focus rated DeCastro as the top-ranked guard in the NFL, and awarded him their Bruce Matthews award for the Best Offensive Lineman in the NFL regardless of position.

The Stanford grad received much recognition this season for his excellence in run blocking but his pass protection ability was just as exceptional. He didn't allow a single sack on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, while playing every snap for the Steelers offense.

Now at the top of his game, and preparing to play in Sunday's Pro Bowl, DeCastro spoke about the deserved recognition: "I'm feeling pretty good, I'm in the prime of my career.

"I know how to play, it's kind of like they always say [at a point] your athleticism and your experience kind of meet. So as you get older your athleticism goes down and experience up.

"So it's one of those things where you are just kind of in your prime and you've got to take advantage of it. Obviously there's a huge tremendous amount of respect to be getting voted to the Pro Bowl three times. I never really dreamed of it."

Rob Carr/Getty Images

The Steelers selected DeCastro out of Stanford with the 24th pick in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft. Unfortunately for the right guard, he suffered a knee injury during pre-season and ended up missing most of his rookie year.

Reflecting on his introduction to the league, he recalls needing to dig deep upon his return to a team that hardly knew him: "I blew my knee and then I missed 10 games and I came back again. It was a tough transition. Geno Atkins ran around me and beat me for some sacks.

"After the season you have a 'Come to Jesus' moment with yourself and just try to work on getting better. The challenge is elite. Every Sunday it's difficult and that's what makes it fun."

Learning from veterans helped speed up his process, with fellow 2017 Pro Bowl selection Maurkice Pouncey a mentor to the young newbie: "Pouncey's obviously one of those guys you just follow right behind, he'll lead the way. He's been great."

The ability to appreciate greatness at his position is one of DeCastro's strengths, as he adds: "I've always liked [Baltimore's Marshall] Yanda but unfortunately he's been hurt. He's a stud. Great to meet him in the Pro Bowl a couple of years ago and just a great guy.

"Another one is Zack Martin. Heckuva player. To make All-Pro as a rookie... you're just like damn! You watch him and he's legit. There's a lot of good guys in this league so when you get voted and get rewards, it means a lot."

Once Sunday's game is over, DeCastro will reflect on the past season, then rest and recharge for the next one.

He says, "We just had our baby girl two months ago. [I'll] just rest up, relax, I like to fish. Get ready for football, get back to working out.

"I only have a couple more years left playing this game. It's been fun so I've got to make the most of it."

One thing he can add to his To-Do list once his NFL career is over is a return to South Africa. While he's visited several times in his life, his trip in 2014 is a highlight as he had the NFL-earned money to go big on all the touristy things one hopes to do in the country.

"It was beautiful. It's a beautiful country. We did the safari thing. I had a little bit of money so that was nice to be able to do that. It was probably my favourite trip I've ever done. I'd love to go back. I wish I could go back every year," he says.

His grandfather was celebrating his 90th birthday, hence the trip, and DeCastro was able to take his then-girlfriend, now-wife, to the cities were his parents grew up before they moved to the United States.

"We did Johannesburg because my mom grew up there, then we went on a safari after that. Then we went to Cape Town after the safari, and Cape Town is beautiful. My dad grew up in Sea Point. It's pretty neat to see the history, where they come from."

Matt Cullen’s return to Pittsburgh is part business, part victory lap

By SHELLY ANDERSON/SPECIAL TO THE PIONEER PRESS

https://www.twincities.com/2018/01/25/wild-matt-cullens-return-to-pittsburgh-is-part-business-part-victory-lap/

January 25, 2018

Matt Cullen acknowledges the crowd at PPG Paints Arena January 25, 2018 (Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review)

PITTSBURGH — NHL players return to the building of their former team all the time. For Wild winger Matt Cullen, this was different.

Cullen is 41 and has played for eight clubs, two of them — including the Wild — twice.

Returning to PPG Paints Arena for Thursday’s game against the Penguins ranked right up there, judging from the fact that Pittsburgh news outlets began writing about it days ago and from the deafening reception Cullen got when the Penguins showed a video tribute during the game’s first timeout.

“It’s really special coming back here,” Cullen, who won Stanley Cups in each of the past two seasons in Pittsburgh, said before the game. “The last two years were extraordinary years. We made some great friendships and absolutely loved being here. It’s fun being back. It was an awesome experience for us here. We just loved our time here. It’s great to see the guys, everybody at the rink.”

It’s a two-way street, as Cullen became something of a cult figure and the closest thing to the Penguins’ conscience in his two seasons here. His 29 goals and 63 points in the regular season, plus six goals and 15 points in the playoffs, were just one part of his two-season contribution.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan was so effusive talking about Cullen on Thursday that it was impossible to tell that he already had done so nearly every day this week.

“Matt was invaluable for us winning championships,” Sullivan said. “He’s a great teammate. I think his play speaks for itself, what he was able to do for us on the ice. We used him in so many situations. I moved him up and down the lineup, depending on what the needs were for our team. He embraced every challenge we gave him.

“As far as what he meant to our team off the ice, I can’t say enough about him. He’s just a great teammate, a great person. We looked at Matt as an extension of our coaching staff, and he helped us in so many ways. He helped us keep our finger on the pulse of this team.”

Cullen got together with some of his former teammates Wednesday night for dinner.

Cullen’s family became part of Pittsburgh’s fabric, so much so that he had to fend off his three sons’ pleas to make the trip here just as stridently as he might battle to keep the puck away from a defenseman.

“The boys fought hard,” he said. “I half expected to see Joey when I opened my bag up. Until the last minute, they were trying to get on the plane. We couldn’t do it. It was just busy and we couldn’t make it work. The boys wanted to come. Holy cow, they fought hard.”