Jagr: Best Of His Era?

In the post Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux era, was Jaromir Jagr the best player of his era?

That's the claim James O'Brien is making over at his new blog Cycle Like The Sedins.

James asked me what I thought of the claim. Here's what I told him.

In my mind Jagr is one of the top ten offensive players in the history of the game. He had ability few others had. But I think history tends to knock Jagr, rightly or wrongly, because of his association with Mario Lemieux. His perceived indifference in Washington also works against him.

In the post Gretzky-Lemieux era, I'm not certain we've had a truly dominant player. That appears to be changing now with Ovechkin and Crosby. But since 2000 Jagr and Thornton have led the way in terms of points. I think strong arguments could be made for Iginla, Forsberg, Sakic and Lidstrom, and then we can cloud matters by including goalies, namely Martin Brodeur.

I certainly would have no qualms with the claim that Jagr was the best forward of his era.