The Florida Panthers dropped a 4-2 decision to the Washington Capitals on Saturday in NHL action. The result improves Washington to 8-2-1 on the season while dropping the Panthers to 5-6-1. However, fans of Florida will certainly be looking for an update on future Hall-of-Famer Jaromir Jagr

The good news with Jagr, who is 44 years old, is that the injury does not appear to be serious.

He left the game early with a sore groin after logging just 4 minutes and 20 seconds of ice time. He did not return and Gerard Gallant, the head coach of the Panthers, spoke with the media after the game. He is quoted in an NHL.com article from today (November 5th/Tom Gulitti): "(Jagr) had a little bit of a cramp in his groin and he was just a little bit too sore to come back," Gallant said. "He's basically day to day. I don't think it's serious, but he was too sore to come back." 

Day-to-day injury doesn't hurt Florida much

While injuries are never good, if a short-term one was to happen to a key player like Jagr then today would be a good time for it to occur.

The Panthers have several off days in the next four days. They have a game against Tampa Bay coming up on Monday, however Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are all non-game days for Florida. On the 10th the Panthers will face the Sharks. Furthermore, after returning home from Washington the Panthers will be at home for the week against as they host Tampa Bay, San Jose, and the New York Islanders. That eliminates travel from their short-term schedule as they don't play on the road again until November 15th.

Jagr is off the pace he set last season

Jagr has appeared in 12 games so far this season. In those games he has 1 goal and 4 assists. That works out to .417 points per game. Last season the Czech tallied 66 points in 79 games for .835 points per game, so his production thus far this season is about half of his production from last season. Not much can really be expected from a player of his age, however you do still have to wonder if we're seeing the beginning of the end of the great Czech player.