Capital achievement

Jagr's 500th merely a step back toward the Art Ross Trophy

Jaromir Jagr scored his 500th goal Tuesday night, and didn't you know he'd get there with some kind of flourish? After completing his 11th career hat trick, this one a natural, Jagr, 10 days shy of his 31st birthday, put a magic milestone behind him. Some 110 games into his Capitals tenure, Washington fans are finally finding out what all the fuss is about.

Never mind (for a moment) that Jagr can be temperamental. Never mind that he has run more coaches out of town than George Steinbrenner. Never mind last year's D.C. mulligan, when Jagr arrived in Washington as a cause celebre and then, in an injury-slowed season, managed just 31 goals, good for fifth in the league. And never mind that 2001-02 marked the end of his four-season run of scoring titles.

Jagr is back. He has 12 goals and 23 points in his last 12 games, and by no coincidence the Capitals are skating away from the rest of the pack in the Southeast Division. He's third in the league in scoring, five goals behind Markus Naslund, and by this date next month, if you ask me, Jagr's going to be ahead of everyone. He has five-and-a-half seasons remaining on his seven-year, $77 million contract, and by the time that deal expires the list for career NHL goals scored will include Jagr in its top 10.

Sure, Naslund is a skilled, often dazzling forward and Joe Thornton is the most dynamic center the game has seen since Eric Lindros was young. Marian Hossa has glamour years ahead of him, as does Ilya Kovalchuk. But right now Jagr remains the NHL's most intractable offensive force outside of men named Mario.

"If he wants to be the best in the world," Mario Lemieux says, "[all he has to] do is prove it every night."

Jagr hasn't always done that, of course, too often tangling himself up in his own uncertainties and misgivings. At times, there's a certain sadness about Jagr, a sense of a man beleaguered by himself. We saw it in Pittsburgh, where a day or two after a big game he would suddenly begin to mope through his shifts, his eyes downcast, his wide, open-mouthed grin nowhere to be seen. We saw it as he struggled to find his space in Washington last season. And even after an offseason of kickboxing and intense conditioning -- Jagr has always kept himself fit -- we saw it again this year. Jagr was unhappy with himself, and the fans in Washington were unhappy, too. Somewhere, somehow trade rumors began to surface.

Even Capitals owner Ted Leonsis -- the man who made the Jagr deal happen, the man whose cheeriness in the Washington locker room seemed insuperable -- was fretting. In December, Leonsis -- who as a very active vice president at AOL has had, well, some other things to think about in recent months -- told his Capitals how disappointed he was in their results. The team was sliding out of the playoff race. Jagr's 18 goals ranked him well below the league's leaders. For all the financial troubles plaguing him, would Leonsis' biggest hockey investment be a bust? "You don't want to rob the owner," Jagr told the Washington Post, because some people were suggesting that he was.

Despite his moodiness, Jagr hates to have his honor questioned. He needs people to know that he cares. Once, during a playoff slump in Pittsburgh, he said this to me: "Sometimes the best thing to do might be to wait for the play. But I get too impatient. I want people to always know that I am trying. When they say I am not, I get confused and disappointed."

Not long after Leonsis' visit, Jagr got his groove back. He is scoring in great, gorgeous bunches and not just from his lethal spot near the right circle. He is scoring from the high slot and the low; he is setting up no-name goal scorers with easy goals. And his grin is most definitely on display.

Jagr's grooves, by the by, tend to last a while -- that was four straight scoring titles, remember? Enjoy yourself Washington. Goal No. 500 may just be the beginning of something.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides each week at CNNSI.com.

 

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