New York Islanders Should Trade For Jaromir Jagr

The Calgary Flames are looking to move on from Jaromir Jagr. The New York Islanders should get Brad Treliving on the horn as soon as possible.

One of the biggest issues with the New York Islanders is their bottom six.  The Islanders have two extremely good lines, but there’s a significant dropoff after that. There’s an easy solution for the Islanders to fix this problem.

Before the year started I said the Islanders should avoid this person. The reason for it was I was assuming Brock Nelson wouldn’t be on pace for a career-low season, I didn’t think Josh Ho-Sang would be in the AHL, I didn’t think Nikolai Kulemin would be injured, and finally, I didn’t believe that Jason Chimera would regress this much.

The point here is situations change and someone who originally wasn’t a fit could later then become a fit based on need. Jaromir Jagr is now a perfect fit for the Islanders.

It recently came out that the Flames haven’t been happy with Jagr’s performance and they are looking to move on from him. In comes Garth Snow and the Islanders.

Here’s what the Islanders should do:

1. Waive Jason Chimera

Jason Chimera has been next level bad for the Islanders. He’s played in all 43 games yet he’s only got eight points (2 goals, 6 assists). He was a 20 goal scorer last year, but this year he’s been a shell of his former self, giving the Islanders nothing offensively and terrible possession numbers.

He has a 44.7 CF% and a -5.7 CF% rel. That’s not nearly good enough to play at the NHL level and thus waiving him in the final year of his deal is no big deal.

2. Trade for Jagr

Trading for Jagr shouldn’t cost the Islanders all that much. Here’s what my offer would be:

The Flames don’t have a fifth-round pick or a first or second for that matter (the Islanders acquired them in the Travis Hamonic trade). A fifth-round pick for a fourth liner is a fair swap, especially when you consider that the Flames only have six draft picks in 2018 and they all are in the third round or later.

Maybe the Flames could then try to trade up into one of the first two rounds.

The Islanders are getting a reliable fourth liner who might benefit from a change of scenery. At six-foot-three 230 pounds, Jagr provides a big body who obviously has scoring potential even though he hasn’t displayed it this year.

In 22 games in Calgary, he has seven points (1 goal, 6 assists). Those aren’t the numbers we’ve expected from Jagr but he’s only playing 13 minutes a night, a four-minute reduction from last year, and at a $1 million cap hit I think it’s worth the risk.

If anything Jagr helps your possession numbers. He’s got a 52.2 CF% and a 0.6 CF% rel. Casey Cizikas leads the fourth line with a -3.6 CF% rel so those kinds of possession numbers would be a welcomed addition.

Next: Aho Needs To Stay In The NHL

For the little cost it would take, I think it makes sense for the Islanders to take a flier on Jagr. It definitely couldn’t hurt an already abysmal bottom six.