The Yankees would not have made the playoffs if Alex Rodriguez had batted .272 with 24 home runs and 77 RBIs.
The Rangers aren’t going to make the playoffs if Jaromir Jagr completes the 2007-08 season at his current projected pace of 20 goals, 40 assists and 60 points.
There are other issues for the Blueshirts, who have lost three straight in regulation for the first time this season as prepare for this evening’s Garden match against the rampaging Devils, who have won nine straight to seize the Atlantic Division lead.
In the Rangers’ three-game losing streak, the goaltending has slipped from its season-long state of near perfection to ordinary. Secondary scoring has become a classic oxymoron, with Petr Prucha, Ryan Callahan, Marcel Hossa, Blair Betts, Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr – half the team’s complement of forwards – accounting for a total of six goals in 154 man-games. The second-effort work ethic has slipped, too.
But the major issue is Jagr. Just as Rodriguez has to produce numbers representative of his elite status in order for his team to succeed, so must Jagr. His lack of production – seven goals, 14 assists in 29 games – is hobbling the Rangers.
“Physically, I feel great, but I understand that it’s all about the numbers and always has been about the numbers,” Jagr, who is pointless and minus-seven in the last three games, told The Post following yesterday’s practice. “I’m trying my best.
“I give 100 percent every game. I don’t know what to say about why it’s not working for me. If I had the answers, I would use them.
“Things have changed with the way the team is and the way the game is played, but I have never made an excuse for myself, and I am not making any excuses for myself now. I’m just saying the way it is.”
The loss of kindred soul Michael Nylander has taken its toll, but it should not have been debilitating. The Rangers signed Scott Gomez with an expectation that his puck-carrying, give-and-go game would free No. 68 from the burden of creating time and space for himself, but the pair did not click in seven October games as linemates.
Still, with Jagr and team struggling to score, it’s surely only a matter of time before Tom Renney returns to that union. For now, the head coach just wants Jagr to clear his mind and play.
“Jaromir is very analytical, and I believe he’s thinking too much,” Renney said. “I’d like to see him be more spontaneous an intuitive on the ice.
“Jags wants to be the person to lead the Rangers to the Stanley Cup. He takes it personally when we’re not winning, more so if he’s not contributing, and it shows. I wish he’d cut himself some slack and just go out there and play.
“He’s among the best in the world at what he does. We need him to stick with it and be determined to battle through this. We need him to have a clear mind in order to free himself up to perform at the high level we all know he’s capable of.”
Jagr came into the season pledging to have the best year of an NHL career that began in 1990-91. This hasn’t quite been that.
“I still believe I can do it,” Jagr said. “If I don’t, what am I supposed to do, quit? I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to quit.”