So long, Jaromir…we hardly knew ye (NJ.com)

Well that was certainly fast…twenty-four hours ago many of us were deluding ourselves to believe a playoff run might be possible.  And now after last night’s hideous 3-1 loss to Calgary ended that fantasy, the Devils traded Jaromir Jagr to the Panthers, one of the few NHL teams the future HOF’er hasn’t yet played for.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled we managed to get not only the Panthers’ second rounder this year (which could easily be a top 50 pick) but also a choice of third-rounders next year.  I just laugh when GM Lou Lamoriello still tries to maintain that we aren’t selling and may still add a player before the Monday deadline.  Actions speak louder than words, if you really felt you had a shot at the playoffs you wouldn’t trade Jagr to one of our ‘competitors’ for a playoff spot.  Even if Jagr clearly wanted out – which if you read his comments yesterday, you knew he wasn’t happy here with his reduced icetime in the second half and implied issues with assistant and ex-teammate Adam Oates.

Admittedly though, the Panthers surely paid a premium to get Jagr from us, both because they were essentially buying us out of the playoff race and because they’re desperate themselves to make the postseason (our first-round series with them in 2012 was their only playoff berth in the last fifteen years).  Lou himself admitted the return was too good to pass up – insert your own joke about how he’s the Godfather and got the offer he couldn’t refuse.  Honestly with how bad Jagr’s been in recent weeks I thought we’d get a conditional second-rounder at best, and maybe those were the offers from other teams.

Jagr’s drama yesterday and declining play since December aside, he was a good Devil for at least a year and a half and it was nice to be able to watch him play however briefly, and experience him as a person.  While in a sense it’s too bad that his tenure here will be a mere footnote given the lack of meaningful games he’s played here, you can’t really complain about a 2013-14 that exceeded everyone’s expectations, then the draft pick haul we got upon trading him this year.  Incidentally this is why you can never complain about an older player getting a one-year deal, best case they contribute to a winner and worst case you get what you can for them at the deadline.

Will dealing Jagr and falling out of the playoff race now mean that Marek Zidlicky okays a trade?  Will Lou now trade anything else that isn’t bolted down?  Stay tuned, and pay attention to Devils Twitter (how wonderful is it that the Devils managed to break the news of the trade on their own Twitter account before anyone else got wind of it)…with less than four days before the deadline, anything’s possible, as Toronto and Columbus just proved with their shocking blockbuster.