Double Team: Jaromir Jagr was multi-generational talent with Penguins, Panthers

While the NHL is on hold because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review will offer the Double Team project, an examination of the five best players who have contributed substantially to the Penguins and another franchise. For consideration, a player must have played at least the equivalent of a full season for each franchise. (Sorry, Jarome Iginla fans.)

Today, a look at the Florida Panthers. Named after a species of cat native to the Everglades, the Panthers entered the NHL as part of the 1993 expansion. Based in Miami for their first five years, the Panthers moved to Sunrise, Fla., in 1998.

In 97 all-time games against the Panthers, the Penguins have a 53-34-10 record.

1. Jaromir Jagr, right winger

The cliche of old people retiring to Florida was prevalent when Jagr was dealt by the New Jersey Devils to the Panthers at the 2015 trade deadline. After all, what could he have left at 42? Quite a bit it turned out.

Over parts of three seasons, Jagr entrenched himself on the Panthers’ top line with star forwards Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau. After making a valiant-but-unsuccessful push to the playoffs in the spring of 2015, Jagr re-signed with the Panthers and helped the franchise earn a rare postseason berth in 2015-16 by putting up 27 goals and a team-leading 66 points in 79 games, the highest single-season point total in NHL history by a player 43 or older. He also earned the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy that season for his dedication to the sport and was selected to the All-Star Game event.

Jagr returned for a third season in Florida in 2016-17, but his age began to show, at least as much as it could be displayed by the fact he played in all 82 games, posted 46 points and became the NHL’s second-leading scorer of all time.

He left during the ensuing offseason, signing with Calgary for a final but unsuccessful stretch with the Flames.

Of course, a generation earlier, a fresh-faced 18-year-old Jagr burst onto the NHL scene with the Penguins as the No. 5 overall pick in the 1990 draft. While the Czechoslovakian experienced some growing pains adjusting to life on a new continent, he played a key role in the franchise’s first two Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and ‘92.

By the time he turned 22, he won his first Art Ross Trophy during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season with 70 points (32 goals, 38 assists) in 45 games. The following season, Jagr reached — shattered, really — the 100-point barrier by putting up 149 points in 82 games, second in the NHL to linemate Mario Lemieux’s 161 points.

After Lemieux’s first retirement in 1997, Jagr won another Art Ross Trophy in 1997-98 with 102 points. He followed that in 1998-99 by winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP for the only time in his career as well as the Art Ross Trophy again with 127 points.

Jagr spent two more seasons in Pittsburgh and won the Art Ross Trophy twice, with 96 points in 2000 and 121 points in ‘01 before a messy divorce started him on a mostly nomadic existence for the next 19 years and counting. He remains an active player in the Czech Republic.

2. Stu Barnes, center

Selected No. 4 overall in the 1989 draft by the Winnipeg Jets, Barnes failed to nail down a full-time role in the NHL until he was dealt to the Panthers in November 1993. With Florida, Barnes broke out with 23 goals and 47 points in 77 games in 1993-94. During the shortened 1994-95 season, he led the team with 29 points in 41 games.

A strong forechecker who could man center or wing, Barnes was a perfect fit for what remains the best team in Panthers history, the “Rat Trap” squad of 1995-96 that frustrated the opposition with a stagnating defense and made the franchise’s only Stanley Cup Final appearance, losing to the Colorado Avalanche. That season, Barnes contributed 19 goals and 44 points in 72 games.

By November of 1996, Barnes was traded to the Penguins. In Pittsburgh, Barnes enjoyed his greatest individual success. After the trade, he recorded a solid 39 points (17 goals, 22 assists) in 62 games with the Penguins in 1996-97.

Barnes broke out the following season by establishing career-bests in goals (30) and points (65) in 78 games. And even with Jagr as well as All-Star Ron Francis as teammates, Barnes led the team with power-play 15 goals that season.

Barnes was enjoying another productive season in 1998-99 with 20 goals in 64 games but was moved to the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline.

3. Jussi Jokinen, center

The Penguins didn’t really need Jokinen in late portions of the 2012-13 season, but after franchise center Sidney Crosby broke his jaw, general manager Ray Shero acquired Jokinen from the Carolina Hurricanes, who were eager to unload Jokinen’s contract.

As it turned out, Jokinen was a pretty useful and productive player for parts of two seasons in Pittsburgh. After recording 11 points in 10 games and helping the Penguins reach the Eastern Conference final in 2013, Jokinen, who served as a mentor for fellow Finnish rookie defenseman Olli Maatta, found himself a pretty nice assignment in 2013-14 as a left winger on the second line with star forwards Evgeni Malkin and James Neal. That season, Jokinen appeared in 81 games and posted 21 goals and 57 assists then was the team’s second-leading scorer in the postseason with 10 points in 13 games.

During the ensuing offseason, Jokinen joined the Panthers who were attracted by his versatility as well as his leadership. Offering tutelage to Barkov, a fellow Finn in his second NHL season, Jokinen contributed 44 points, second-most on the team, in 81 games while filling a variety of on-ice roles in 2014-15.

During 2015-16 Jokinen recorded 60 points, second on the squad to Jagr, in 81 games while helping the Panthers reach the postseason. Jokinen and the Panthers regressed the following season as he was limited to 28 points, and the team missed the playoffs. The final year of his contract was bought out in the 2017 offseason.

4. Matt Cullen, center

Florida was more of a layover than a destination in Cullen’s 21-year career. The Panthers acquired him via trade in January 2003, and he spent parts of two solid but unremarkable seasons in the Sunshine State. Appearing in 86 games for the franchise, he recorded 31 points, never reaching the postseason.

Before the NHL’s lockout wiped out the 2004-05 season, he was signed by Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford in August 2004.

Eleven years later, Rutherford and Cullen were reunited as the latter, now the Penguins’ general manager, signed his former player to fill out his forward ranks. In reality, Cullen offered so much more as he served as a veteran mentor to several younger teammates while consistently being a double-digit goal scorer for the franchise’s Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and ‘17.

After joining his home-state Minnesota Wild in the 2017 offseason, Cullen returned for one more run with the Penguins in 2018 and appeared in 71 games at the age of 42, becoming the oldest player in franchise history as well as one of the relatively few NHL players to ever play in 1,500 games.

5. Jared McCann, center

A first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 2014, McCann was traded to the Panthers during the 2016 offseason. In Florida, McCann spent parts of three promising but ultimately unappetizing seasons with the Panthers. Playing for three coaches with a franchise in the midst of yet another rebuilding project, McCann dressed for 143 games and recorded 53 points.

In February 2019, McCann was traded to the Penguins and began to show his potential. Primarily used on a line with Crosby and Jake Guentzel, McCann had 17 points in 32 games with the Penguins.

This season, McCann was used in a variety of roles for an injured lineup and posted 35 points in 66 games.

Honorable mention: None. There were so few players who spent the equivalent of a full season with each team, there are no players worthy of this designation.

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