Comparing Jaromir Jagr to Evgeni Malkin
by Hooks Orpik on Jan 11, 2010 1:37 PM EST
27 comments
By now most everyone has heard of the column by Ron Cook that's stirring up controversy: "Sulking won't cure Malkin's slump". Puck Daddy and the Pensblog have great responses up.
Other than being from foreign lands, playing for the Penguins, and being superstars; Jaromir Jagr and Evgeni Malkin don't have too much in common. Cook calls Malkin out today for not scoring goals and the "lame" way he's handling it. Then he goes on to draw parallels to Jaromir Jagr, if the Penguins don't re-sign Sergei Gonchar.
Just in case, Mr. Cook's forgotten, here's a very small sample of some things that Jagr did after Mario Lemieux retired and Jagr was the Pens on the ice leader. This isn't to knock Jagr (who did amazing things for the Penguins) but rather to highlight a couple of his decisions and behaviors, especially in comparision to how Malkin is acting. Jagr:
- Whined enough to get defensive minded and stern coach Kevin Constantine fired.
- Lobbied to get the Penguins to acquire untold number of Czech friends on the team to appease him.
- Lobbied to get Ivan Hlinka as a head coach.
- Held meeting with linemates to design his own defensive systems to get around Hlinka's "left-wing lock" system.
- Refused to take the ice when the Pens were on a power-play and the coach ordered him out.
- Requested a trade no less than three times in his final season as a Penguin.
Isn't that a bit more toxic behavior than a guy who's handling a goal scoring slump a little too hard? If anything, Malkin's putting pressure on himself and feeling bad for not playing at his best right now, and blaming no one but himself.
Pensblog is right to point out Malkin has 30 assists. He's in a funk, but it's not like he's sulking all the way up and down the ice and being a dis-service to himself. Cook needs to chill and go back to writing about how fighting in hockey sucks and why Steelers assistant coordinator Bruce Arians isn't at fault for anything.
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I’m glad you guys are getting in on the Ron Cook hatefest. I have to point out though that Mark Madden wrote nearly the same thing as Cook two weeks ago in the Beaver County Times.
“Is Malkin turning into Jaromir Jagr? If Malkin were as productive, that might be easier to live with. But the comparison is understandable, especially given the way the organization tiptoes around Malkin.”-Mark Madden.
I really dont understand why the comparisons to Jagr have started, but lets put an end to this now.
Honestly, I think it’s because the speak broken English. Crosby had his struggles last season (maybe not this bad).
No Pittsburgh reporter has ever said Crosby should stop leaning on Mario. So to say Malkin should stop relying on Gonchar is a bit biased.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
That was one of my initial thoughts—Crosby still lives with Lemieux. I really don’t see anything wrong with a 23-year-old, or anyone else, having a support system and turning to people they trust.
You know, I joked—joked—last week about picking a little fight between both halves of the Two-Headed Monster to get Malkin fired up. I didn’t think anyone purporting to be a responsible writer with some expertise would try it in a larger venue.
"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007
Cocktails With the Penguins, where Pens fans toast victories and drown defeats.
by GreenEyedLilo on Jan 11, 2010 2:41 PM EST up reply actions
Kinda stunned Madden made that comparison. He’s generally smarter than that.
by SlayerGhaleon on Jan 11, 2010 2:11 PM EST up reply actions
Yet Madden will go on the air today and tear into Cook for being an idiot for writing that (which he is). Madden plays both sides of the fence on every issue then calls himself the super genius. Yea its hard to be wrong when you contradict yourself on every issue.
by genomachine-O on Jan 11, 2010 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
I’ve only listened to Madden a handful of times (and most of this was done at the office with a pair of headphones on), but I can say that he tends to mix it up like any good sports radio host should. Not many of those guys are as dumb as people claim them to be. They know exactly what they’re doing. Controversy = ratings, especially with sports radio, so he may praise Malkin today and rip into him tomorrow just because in the end it’s putting food on the table tonight.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
No doubt, Madden worked in wrestling for years. Hes knows what hes doing.
by genomachine-O on Jan 11, 2010 2:37 PM EST up reply actions
Yep. When media people argue loudly and they get talked about in places like this it’s free publicity and they win. Not that I mind, it’s all a part of the game as Omar from ‘The Wire’ would say.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
by Hooks Orpik on Jan 11, 2010 3:54 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I hope Malkin really doesn’t let this crap get to him. He’s 23 years old living in a foreign country. Hes gonna go through some hard times. I’ve been critical of Malkins play as well. But Cook just completly rips Malkin, not only for his play, but his attitude, his work ethic. Come on man give the KID a break.
Totally. I don’t know what Cook was like when he was 23, but I was a mess and so were all my friends at the time. I needed older, wiser, calmer people around me a lot. And I lived less than an hour’s drive from where I grew up! I’ll bet most anyone else here who’s on the other side of 23 would say something similar.
There’s a huge difference between criticising a highly paid star player’s recent gameplay and strongly implying that he has glaring personality defects. I can say more, but not without cussing.
"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007
Cocktails With the Penguins, where Pens fans toast victories and drown defeats.
by GreenEyedLilo on Jan 11, 2010 2:48 PM EST up reply actions
At even strength:
Crosby has Guerin and Kunitz (usually)
Ovechkin has Backstrom and Semin
The Sedins have each other
Thornton has Heatley and Marleau
Malkin has Fedotenko and Dupuis (usually)
One of these things are not like the other…
You come at the king, you best not miss.
by Hooks Orpik on Jan 11, 2010 2:00 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Should have spent some money on some real winggahs. =]
Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
Another great point by you, Dupuis and Fedotenko…..enough said. The amount of points Malkin has been able to put up this year seems even more remarkable when you look at it like that.
by genomachine-O on Jan 11, 2010 2:33 PM EST up reply actions
Aging Primadonna vs. kid?
This comparison is crap. Lighten up people. He is still 5 years (FIVE FREAKING YEARS) from his prime as a hockey player.
And just a month or two ago people were riding Crosby for not being able to carry the team like Malkin did in 2007(even though Malkin didn’t have to deal with a slew of injuries).
I am reminded that while we definitely have a obsession with sports in this town, this does not make us smarter than any other fanbase.
Horrible column
Reading it just made me angry. This is the LAST thing Malkin needs right now, for the Pittsburgh media to try to stir up negative criticism and comparisons… ugh.
I loved the response at Pensblog, and this response is good too. If Malkin reads the column, I hope word of the hockey blogosphere’s outrage reaches him too… but somehow I doubt he reads Penguins blogs. I hope he knows that the fans support him. Maybe we should start a campaign.
As a relative newbie fan, thank you for the background on Jagr. I knew that he’d begged to be traded and made unreasonable demands, but I didn’t know the half of it. And I still thought Ron Cook was being extremely unreasonable (to put it generously).
"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007
Cocktails With the Penguins, where Pens fans toast victories and drown defeats.
Over the summer Pens Universe took a look at the Jagr/Malkin comparison as well.
Part 1: http://www.pensuniverse.com/2009/07/malkin-versus-jagr.html
Part 2: http://www.pensuniverse.com/2009/07/malkin-versus-jagr-part-2.html
Topics ranged from who may be the more fan favorite choice, who had the prettier goal and yes, the better haircut (of course).
Figured I’d throw this out there since Pens Universe put it together before any talks of a Malkin slump. Worth the read, especially if you’re looking to compare a “then and now” from as little as 6 months ago.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
Who the hell is Ron Cook?
Did he ever play anything?
Has he ever really won anything?
Or is he just one of these sports writers/commentators/analysts that points out everything people are doing wrong or what they should improve upon when they have never done anything themselves.
I think the one thing we have to remember is that history has shown that Jagr can’t lead a team, or carry a team, and I mean mostly in ways in which a player sets a good example for other players, and isn’t concerned about their own needs, etc. Plus, I always thought Jagr was second rate to Mario, without 66 you couldn’t have 68 or whatever number Jagr the Selfish wore. Geno could carry a team and lead it (God forbid if he was on another team, and language barrier aside.)
Ron Cook is probably just trying to keep his job in the failing newspaper business by speaking out of his ass. What a tool. And I’m sure Geno doesn’t read any of the stuff that would be printed about it, and if he does, his teammates, like his mentor Gonchar, are telling him not to read too much in to it. Like said before, he knows he’s not playing his best, and he takes responsibility. Jagr wouldn’t do that.
A bee in a bird's nest never made no honey, and a bird in a hive sang no song.
Ron Cook inspired a beer alternative for tonight. :-)
"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007
Cocktails With the Penguins, where Pens fans toast victories and drown defeats.
I like it. Although I’m going to make a couple gallons of it in my bathtub. Just in case.
A bee in a bird's nest never made no honey, and a bird in a hive sang no song.
Funny story about that. My grandfather actually bootlegged alcohol during prohibition. Unfortunately when he first started mixing it in his bathtub he didn’t do something right and literally blew off the entire side of the house. He was in the basement at the time, luckily, or chances are I wouldn’t be here right now.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
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