Dallas Stars owner Tom Gaglardi was about as happy as a new owner could be on Tuesday afternoon.
His team had just pulled off a free-agent signing that caught the eye of much of the hockey world as Jaromir Jagr signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract to help reinforce a Stars offense that has sputtered at critical times over the past few years.
While Jagr does come with the same caveats as any 40-year-old who has lots and lots of miles on the tires, he's also been one of the premier snipers in the NHL over the past two decades. And despite his age, he was still a hot commodity on the free-agent market with teams hoping for some solid production and veteran work ethic.
The fact that the Stars won that battle despite missing the playoffs for the last four years says a lot to Gaglardi, as he told the Dallas Morning News.
"It’s a big day for the Dallas Stars, because it shows we want to win, that we can recruit a great player to come here, and that we’re very relevant on the NHL landscape," Gaglardi said. "If you look at our top six now, I think we’re competitive, I think we’re exciting, and I definitely think we’re a playoff team. We have made ourselves over."
After the jump, lots more on the Jagr signing, some thoughts from the newest Stars center and filling out the minor-league roster.
- The local media won't get a chance to chat with Jagr until some point Thursday, which I guess is the hazard of signing a player while he's overseas for the summer. But he did leave a pretty epic twitter message for Stars fans. You might have noticed the hashtag that ensued. [@68Jagr]
- There's even more optimism from Gaglardi and general manager Joe Nieuwendyk in this Canadian Press story. [Canada.com]
- Richard Durrett shows his background as a baseball guy in this analysis of the signing, but the comparison he draws to Cliff Lee is a pretty decent one. [ESPN Dallas]
- Some inside-the-numbers analysis on Jagr's season with the Philadelphia Flyers. [TSN.ca]
- The Stars "plan" has gotten a lot clearer as the pieces have fallen into place, but for those still questioning why they are so enthusiastic about [Fox Sports Southwest]
- You're going to get a lot of stories about Jagr's work ethic over the next few days, and you can start with a recent one from his time with the Flyers. [Philly.com]
- There were two main reasons Ray Whitney was willing to leave the Phoenix Coyotes - the much better contract offer from the Stars and the ownership nightmare that continues in the desert. [Arizona Republic]
- Now working for the official site, Mark Stepneski captured the audio of Derek Roy, at the time the newest Dallas Star, on NHL Home Ice on Tuesday. [via Mark Stepneski]
- The player flipped for him, Steve Ott, caught up with Mike Heika and gave some pretty good quotes. I also think Heika nails why he'll be as effective a player, if not more, in the Northeast. And as a bonus, maybe Jack Edwards will actually come and talk to him now. [DallasNews.com]
- Daryl Reaugh has been one of the biggest Ott proponents in the league, coining the fitting term "irritainment" and memorably threatening to drink bleach if Ott hadn't been around during a trying season. And he wrote a very nice goodbye column on the official site. [DallasStars.com]
- The Stars are also filling out the minor league roster, and they added to that Tuesday by signing defenseman Tyler Sloan to a one-year, two-way contract. [@RenLavoieRDS]
- And on the "free agents who almost certainly weren't coming back" front, Jake Dowell has signed a two-year contract with the Minnesota Wild. [Fox Sports North]
- The Stars aren't featured in Down Goes Brown's summary of the opening days of free agency (though they had an awesome Tweet after the Jagr signing), but there's plenty to get you laughing. [Down Goes Brown]
- Before we hit the video, a note to keep Coyotes forward Brett MacLean (@mackattack_39) in your thoughts and prayers. The 23-year-old suffered some sort of medical emergency on Monday that necessitated CPR be performed on him. He's currently in the cardiac ICU in London, Ontario. [Arizona Republic]
- Okay, so it's not really a video, but Jagr is the pressing issue of the day, and you did want to hear Nieuwendyk's comments in full about him, right?