Although the New Jersey Devils have enjoyed a run of four consecutive wins, the hockey club faces extremely long odds to salvage its season and earn a playoff berth.
The Devils are likely to hit the trade deadline as sellers, and veteran winger Jaromir Jagr would like to see himself land with a contender rather than watch his ice-time dwindle in New Jersey.
Jagr spoke candidly about his reduced role Wednesday with reporters, effectively expressing his desire to be traded ahead of the March 2 trade deadline.
The 43-year-old routinely logged upwards of 20 minutes per night under former head coach Peter DeBoer, but he’s eclipsed 16 minutes of ice-time in just four of the Devils past 10 games. Jagr played just over 12 minutes versus the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday and Arizona Coyotes on Monday.
Jagr is the Devils third leading scorer with 29 points in 56 games this season, but he’s become something of an afterthought in the plans of the Devils three-headed coaching scheme with Lou Lamoriello, Scott Stevens, and Adam Oates.
Surely there’s a contending team out there that could use Jagr’s ability and experience in its bottom-six group of forwards and on its power play.
Now it’s up to Lamoriello and co. to grant his wish to help a team.
