The KHL isn't the NHL and, with the exception of the Olympics, it's been three years full years since Jagr last played top level hockey.
Jaromir Jagr signed a deal with the Philadelphia Flyers near the start of July worth $3.3 million for one season. That amount was far better than the $2 million that was offered by the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team who weren't willing to get involved in a bidding war with the competition over Jagr.
Jagr is now coming back to the NHL with a lot to prove at the age of 39 and the only way he can silence his critics is by doing one thing: scoring.
Veteran leadership won't help much on a team that already has Chris Pronger and nobody in the NHL is going to put Jagr on a pedestal until he re-proves that he belongs.
The center averaged better than a point per game in his last season with Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League however Eurasian hockey leagues are where NHL players go when they're either washed up, not good enough to begin with, or on-strike.
There's no way Jagr should be expected to average a point per game in the next NHL season and in my opinion his average is going to be cut in half: I think he'll average one point every two games.
As a case in point Martin Skoula played with Jagr in Omsk last season and Skoula's points per game average was 0.42. I know Skoula's a defenceman, although I'm not totally convinced it matters when looking at averages as opposed to totals, however when Skoula last played in the NHL he scored 0.21 points per game with Pittsburgh and New Jersey in 2009/10.
His points per game rate in the NHL was half what he produced in the KHL.
All fans of the Philadelphia Flyers can really expect from Jagr in 2011/12 is about 18 goals and 23 assists if he plays 82 games. Even that might be a little generous as he only played a 49 game season in Omsk last year.
With an 82 game schedule promising to fatigue the near 40 year old maybe 14 goals and 18 assists will have to do.
Hopefully, if you're a Flyers' fan, Jagr gets hot at the right time but that's up to the Flyers' coaching to manage his fatigue level properly and make sure he has something left for the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a tournament that should have at least a couple games hosted in Philly, maybe more.
