10.Jaromir Jagr should be wary of returning to Pit

During the 2010-11 season, the Pittaburgh Penguins Jerseys were in the younger half of the NHL’s 30 teams, with an average age of 27.4. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as franchise cornerstones Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal were at or below the age of 26 as the campaign came to an end in late April.
In fact, until late February, the Penguins didn’t employ any skater over the age of 33, with bottom-six forward Craig Adams wearing the grayest beard outside of backup goalie Brent Johnson, who is 34. Heck, even coach Dan Bylsma is the league’s second-youngest at his position. The addition of 38-year-old Alex Kovalev at the trade deadline added some rings to the Penguins’ tree,(Sidney Crosby) but since he is expected to depart via free agency this July, their roster figures to lose some excess years for 2011-12. Pittsburgh’s relative greenness is partly by design, but it is also dictated by fiscal necessity. Generally speaking, younger players are cheaper than older ones, and the Penguins have a combined $26.4 million annually tied up in the aforementioned “core four” plus $9 million for last summer’s free-agent acquisitions Paul Martin and Zybnek Michalek, leaving little room for veteran augmentation. Salary cap considerations aside, the up-tempo style the Penguins play rewards speed and eagerness, qualities easily found in athletes on the low side of 30. That’s why the latest rumors involving the potential return of Czech legend Jaromir Jagr are problematic. The rumblings were primarily triggered by last week’s report by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rob Rossi that Penguins GM Ray Shero travelled to the Nhl Jerseys World Championships in Slovakia to speak with Jagr.
According to Rossi, Shero made the trip to invite Jagr to this summer’s team golf outing that will honor the 1991 Stanley Cup champions, a Penguins squad on which Jagr was a rookie. Ostensibly, the Penguins are reaching out to welcome the 39-year-old power forward back into their extended family. Since leaving Pittsburgh via trade 10 years ago, Jagr has been ill-received among a vocal portion of the Penguins’ fan base.