Things are going so bad for the Pittsburgh Penguins these days that even Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads aren’t immune from the bad mojo.
A shipment of 10,000 Jagr bobbleheads was stolen en-route to Pittsburgh, thus canceling the popular giveaway scheduled for Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks. So, if Penguins fans weren’t angry enough about their team’s recent 1-5-1 stretch, they most certainly will be steamed to not receive their prized Jagr bobblehead when they enter PP&G Paints Arena.
The Penguins did promise that fans will receive a voucher to claim the Jagr bobblehead in the future. So, there is that.
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Theft of Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads latest blow to Penguins
It’s just the latest disaster for the Penguins, who likely will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second season in a row. Pittsburgh has not missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since they failed to qualify four straight from 2002-06.
The Penguins have fallen to seventh in the eight-team Metropolitan Division. They are also seven points out of the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference and would need to jump five teams to land that spot. That’s near impossible with 18 games remaining on their schedule.
On top of all that, the Penguins traded popular forward Jake Guentzel ahead of the NHL trade deadline last week. Guentzel was a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins and seven-time 20-goal scorer. He’s a pending unrestricted free agent at season’s end and the Penguins are in bind where they stand against the salary cap (yes, another issue).
Guentzel was shipped to the Carolina Hurricanes for three prospects and some draft picks. Considering there’ve been mixed reviews on the haul they got back, it could be yet another rough recent moment for the Penguins.
That the trade was not accepted in a happy way by superstar captain Sidney Crosby, further adds to the Penguins’ woes.
So, all in all, the kidnapped Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads just puts an exclamation point on a difficult season in the Steel City.