What if the Philadelphia Flyers drafted Jaromir Jagr in 1990?

Back in 1990, the Philadelphia Flyers made a monumental mistake by passing over Jaromir Jagr, allowing him to be drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins. What if the Flyers made the right move?

Continuing our “what if” series, today we take a look at the Philadelphia Flyers. Now, the most common discussion about “what if” moments for them usually revolves around Patrick Kane and the 2007 NHL Draft. That’s a good one. However, the Flyers made a bigger mistake in 1990 because they let their archrival Pittsburgh Penguins draft some dude named Jaromir Jagr.

In 1990, the Flyers had the fourth overall pick of the draft. The Penguins, meanwhile, had the fifth overall pick. With Jagr still on the board, the Flyers drafted Mike Ricci. Even though Ricci only played two seasons for them, he was still important because he was involved in the trade that sent Eric Lindros to the Flyers.

Now, it’s worth pointing out Jagr admitted he told the teams ahead of the Penguins that he wouldn’t come over to North America right away. However, he told the Penguins he would come over right away, largely because he really wanted to play with Mario Lemieux. So basically, Jagr finessed his way onto the Penguins.

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However, it’s safe to say the Flyers messed up big time. Jagr went on to star for the Penguins and helped them win back-to-back Stanley Cups. He eventually went on to play for the Flyers, but this was long after he was one of the NHL’s elite players.

For this exercise, I put Jagr onto the 1990-91 Flyers using Hockey Franchise Manager 6. It’s made by Out Of The Park Development, the same company that makes OOTP Baseball. I ran a simulation of Jagr’s career. This is the result of the simulation.

What If The Flyers Drafted Jagr?

For starters, this made the Penguins a lot worse. They won no Stanley Cups in the 1990s without Jagr. Figured I’d start this off on a very good note for Flyers fans. And before anyone asks, yes, they’re still trading for Lindros in 1992.

The 1990-91 season would still end without the postseason for the Flyers, though they just barely missed the playoffs. Jagr won the Calder Trophy after posting 75 points in 70 games, but they still missed the postseason by just two points. Towards the end of the season, with Jagr out due to a groin injury, the Flyers blew two three goal leads that led to ties on consecutive nights. That ultimately cost them.

In 1991-92, the Flyers got into the playoffs, barely beating out the Penguins by a mere one point. Jagr finished with 78 points in 82 games, including a mind-boggling eight game-winning goals. However, the Flyers lost in the second round to the New York Rangers.

The 1992-93 season is when Jagr really started to dominate. He finished third in the Hart Trophy voting thanks to a 100 point season. The Flyers made the playoffs again and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Montreal Canadiens in a seven game series. If Jagr’s point totals feel inflated, they should. He played 25 minutes a game this season and at least 20 minutes a game in each of his first three seasons. I’m not kidding.

It was more of the same in 1993-94, as Jagr had another 100 point season, finishing with 102 points. However, much like the previous year, the Flyers lost in the Eastern Conference Final in seven games, this time to the Boston Bruins. Also, the Vancouver Canucks won the Stanley Cup!

The 1994-95 season was a great one for the Flyers. Jagr and Lindros finished second and third respectively in the Hart Trophy race, with the former winning the Art Ross Trophy. They pretty much split votes and Joe Sakic of the Quebec Nordiques won the Hart Trophy because of it. The Flyers won the Stanley Cup Final after besting the Detroit Red Wings in five games.

Unfortunately, the Flyers couldn’t keep him past the 1999 season, but they did go on to win another Stanley Cup in 1998. Oh, and Jagr came mighty close to breaking Wayne Gretzky‘s point record in his simulated career, if you’re interested. Came within 500 points of him. Of course, in this simulation, he never left for the KHL.

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So there you have it. If you believe my simulation, the Flyers lost out on two Stanley Cups because they didn’t pick Jagr.

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