Jagr Finds a Home in Siberia

When the NHL decided to send the New York Rangers to Prague to open the 2008-09 regular season against the Tampa Bay Lightning, chances are they were counting on the greatest Czech player ever, Jaromir Jagr, still being with the team.↵↵But Rangers general manager Glen Sather had other plans -- and they didn’t include Jagr, who finished last season with a disappointing 71 points. Finding himself without a contract for the first time in his career, the tempermental Jagr decided to say goodbye to the NHL forever and ply his wares in Siberia playing for Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League.↵

↵↵So how’s it going for the man who scored 646 goals in 17 seasons and drove fans to distraction in three different NHL cities? After something of a sputtering start, it looks like Jagr has finally caught fire.↵

↵↵But not before he got rid of his coach and brought in a hand-picked successor. According to the Russian press, Sergei Gersonsky, Avangard’s original head coach, earned the ire of Jagr and the rest of his teammates after forcing the team to return to a dormitory following a week-long season opening road trip instead of letting them go home to their wives and girlfriends. ↵

↵↵Exit Gersonsky and enter Jagr, who apparently did his best to recruit former Avalanche and Thrashers head man Bob Hartley before finally convincing Calgary Flames assistant Wayne Fleming to give Siberia a try.↵

↵↵Fleming arrived in Russia yesterday in time to supervise a 20-minute pre-game skate before climbing behind the bench for the first time to lead the team to a 7-4 win over HK MVD. Jagr, along with New York Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov, had a goal and two assists -- as many points as he had scored in his first five games with Avangard this season. But lately, he’s been on something of a tear, as reported by Beyond the Blueshirts, with 13 points (8G, 5A) in his last 12 games.↵

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