I suppose it had to be considered when taking a 38-year old player for the hockey pool, you were likely going to be up against some long odds that a player of that age is going to escape injury for 82 games. Well, the Flyers lost the services of Jaromir Jagr last night against the Coyotes, as he left the game early on with a lower-body issue. It was later reported that Jagr did not travel with the team to Winnipeg for their Saturday afternoon tilt against the Jets and it is believed to be a groin injury that is keeping him out. There is no word how serious the injury is or when the team believes he'll be back, but I would expect to see an further update on Jagr before the game against the Jets. For now, he should be considered out day-to-day, but keeping it under a close watch.
Remarkably, Jagr has been an impact player, even at his ripe old age, picking up 17 points (6 goals and 11 assists) in the first 18 games of the regular season, currently ranking 43rd in pool scoring, which would put him at the tail end of being a 2nd round draft pick in the draft this year. The Flyers are wealthy, in terms of scoring depth, so taking a few games off shouldn't be a huge concern for the team, but if this injury is serious, they may develop some gaps in their scoring.
I think it is fair to pin a great deal of Scott G.'s early season success on how much of a bargain Jagr has been to his team, taking him 70th overall, in the 4th round. Getting a player worthy of being a 2nd round pick down a couple rounds, looks pretty good on his season. Going into Friday's action, Scott currently sits in 8th spot with 148 points and he's right in the thick of some of the good races. He's only 5 points from 4th place, 12 points out of 3rd. If Jagr is out for a long period of time, these numbers could suffer quite quickly.
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