Jagr Watch 2017

[Lesky]

Holmgren/Jagr transcript

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PAUL HOLMGREN: We just wanted more than anything to give Jaromir a chance to take care of you guys, and give you a chance to meet him and talk to him. We’re obviously very excited to have Jaromir join us this summer through free agency, and bring him back to the NHL. We feel he’s still going to be a good player in our league, and we’re looking forward to seeing him do good things for the Flyers this year.


Q: Why was this the right fit for you at this point?

JAROMIR JAGR: Well, I already answered that question a couple months ago when some of you guys asked me. I had some teams that were interested in me and when I came back to the NHL, I didn’t want to come back just to sit around. I wanted to still prove that I could play hockey on a high level. When the Flyers asked me if I would be interested in coming back to play for their team, I was thinking about it and I felt like it would be a good fit for me. There were a lot of changes, a lot of new guys.


Q: What’s the biggest adjustment for you coming back into North America?

JAGR: You’ve got to wait and see. I cannot answer that after the first practice. A lot of people think the league has changed. A lot of young guys, a little bit quicker – I wasn’t here for the last three years, but it’s not like I didn’t play hockey for the last three years. I didn’t retire. I was just playing in a different league on different ice. I think that’s going to be the biggest difference, the ice, and it’s going to take me some time to adjust. But hopefully it’s going to be quick.

Q: What do you say to people who ask if you still have anything left at age 39?

JAGR: Well, I’m not going to say anything right now. There’s probably a lot of people wondering if I still can play. It’s fine with me. I’m not 21, trying to prove something with my words. We’ll just have to wait and see. I can promise you one thing, that I’m going to give it my best shot to play on a high level. Don’t forget, I’m 39. I didn’t come here just to impress myself. I’m not saying I’m going to be dominating, I’m not saying I’m going to play good. But I can promise you I’m going to do all the right things to play.


Q: How tough has it been the last couple weeks with the Lokomotiv plane crash?

JAGR: It was tough. That’s life. Sometimes life can be tough, for everybody. Sometimes life brings you something said, and you just have to feel sorry for the families of the players. You just have to sometimes think that life is a little bit more than anything [here]. It gets me thinking that it could happen to anybody, anywhere. That’s why you should enjoy every minute of your life.

Q: You won two Cups in your first two years, and now you’re 39 years old. Is that part of the reason why you’re back in this league, that you’re hungry to win another Cup?

JAGR: Well, to be honest, when I came in the league, I was 18 years old. During the Communist years, there were not many people [in Czechoslovakia] who knew about the NHL. All we knew about were the Olympics and [Czech hockey]. That was my first time out of the house, I was a little bit homesick, and I wanted to go home after the season, but we kept winning and winning and then we won the Stanley Cup. I didn’t appreciate what I won. I thought it was going to be like that every year. We had a great team, I was pretty lucky – I was playing with a lot of great players that I could learn from. That was probably the best thing that happened to me in my hockey career. Before every season, there’s 30 teams – before there was 21, but now there’s 30 teams who are trying to win it, and look how tough it is to win it. You have to be a good team but you have to be lucky, and stay away from injuries, that’s very important. I think this team has a big shot to do it and I want to be part of it.


Q: Do you think you disappointed Pittsburgh fans by signing in Philadelphia?

JAGR: I don’t want to go back to that again. First of all, when I was making the decision, I never thought that Pittsburgh fans would want me back. Every time I played there, they were booing me every time I touched the puck. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal that I didn’t sign with Pittsburgh. On the other side, it was my decision, and it was the second time I’d been a free agent in 21 years. I never really was a free agent. Every time I almost was a free agent, the team signed me for a long term. The first time was when I was 36 and I decided to go to Russia, so this was the second time I was a free agent. I had a chance to do what I thought was best for me. If I hurt anybody, I apologize, because I didn’t want to, but on the other side I just don’t understand why people can be that mad about my decision.

Q: What do you remember about the Flyers/Penguins rivalry?

JAGR: The Flyers were always tough to play against. They had big guys and always drafted big guys, strong guys that were playing very physical. I remember I had a tough time playing them. Nobody wanted to play the Flyers back then. You knew it was going to hurt to play this team. That’s what I remember the most.

Q: Are you the type of player to offer advice to young players?

JAGR: Of course, there’s no question about it. I had it when I was younger, and I said it before – it was probably the best thing that happened to me when I was drafted by Pittsburgh, that I had a chance to play with such great players. Not only great players, but hard-working guys. It was no accident that the Penguins in the early 90s were the best team in the NHL. If you would see all those guys, how they work after practices – Ulf Samuelsson, Rick Tocchet, Kevin Stevens, all those guys – they were competing with each other and I was trying to compete with them. That’s what put me at a different level. If somebody asks me for advice, of course I’m going to help them.

Q: When you put that orange jersey on yesterday, was there any pause in your mind?

JAGR: like “what am I doing?” (laughter)

Q: Did it even cross your mind? It’s a big deal for people here because you’re really only remembered for what you did in black and gold.

JAGR: Well hopefully it’s a good big deal for the people. I would appreciate it if they’re happy I came. All I can tell them is I’ll do the maximum to not disappoint them. I don’t know if I’m going to play good or bad, I can’t answer that one. But I’m 100 percent sure I’m going to do everything to play well.

Q: Did you miss the NHL?

JAGR: I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it. But three years ago when I made the decision to go to Russia, I said I’m not going to think about it. That wouldn’t make me any better to worry about if I made a good decision or a bad decision. I was pretty sure back then that that’s the last time I’d play in the NHL, but once again, you can never say never. You never know what life is going to bring you.

Q: What part of your game remains the best?

JAGR: Well, that answer should probably come from somebody else. I thought my game was always on the boards. I felt I was strong enough to hold the puck and play one-on-one. Hopefully that will be the case this year, making good decisions in the offensive zone. I’ve never been known as a defender (laughter) but nobody would ask me that if I was scoring.

Q: Are you looking at this as your last year?

JAGR: Well, that’s why I was looking to sign for one year, because I don’t know. If I was confident I could be very good for this team and could help them a lot, I would be thinking more, but right now I don’t know. And I don’t want to have two years and be here just to be here. I want to be a plus for this team.

Q: Paul, what do you think the biggest asset is that Jaromir brings to this team?

HOLMGREN: Personally, I’m really excited to see Jaromir play for the Flyers. Watching them all those years with Pittsburgh and then with the Rangers, he’s a star. He’s been a star. Our decision in the summertime to pursue him, and it was just a shot in the dark as you remember – you have an opportunity to add one of the best offensive players who’s ever played the game. I think Jaromir’s not giving himself due credit here. He’s still a good player in the offensive zone, he can still hold on to the puck and make plays, his shot is tremendous, I think his training regimen, what he does – we’ve only seen bits and pieces over the last few days but it’s second to none. Anything that he does off the ice is going to be looked at by our young players as “holy mackerel.” From a role model standpoint and what we believe he’s going to do on the ice for us, I think it’s going to all be good things.

Q: You played with Joey Mullen…

JAGR: Yeah, that’s a sad thing… (laughter)

[the wicked child]

I can't imagine why anyone would be disappointed with one of the top players in franchise history signing with one of their most hated rivals.

[shafnutz05]

Jagr is on the Preston and Steve show in Philly ATM.....HE'S A HOOT

[pensfan1989]

He made it sound like he was forced to re-sign in every city he played in

[columbia]

I can't imagine why anyone would be disappointed with one of the top players in franchise history signing with one of their most hated rivals.

Wait until Kennedy joins Talbot in Philly.

[Lesky]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jaromir Jagr had a special request for Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren when he signed in Philadelphia as a free agent in July. No problem, Holmgren figured. Even after a three-year hiatus in Russia, Jagr was still the NHL's active scoring leader by more than 250 points, so the 39-year-old Czech had earned the right to some preferential treatment. But what would he want? A leased car? A block of rinkside tickets at the Wells Fargo Center? Two-for-one cheesesteaks at Pat's? Nope. Just a key, please. Jagr needed access to the team's practice facility in Voorhees, N.J., so that he could pop in at night for some extra work whenever the mood struck. He might shoot with a weighted stick to keep his wrists in shape, or skate with a weighted vest to keep his legs in shape, or kick around a soccer ball while he recharged between drills. "Because when it's really fun for me," Jagr explains, "it doesn't even feel like work. Practice, games, whatever. I don't see the hours pass, you know. I'm just playing."

His Philly teammates have already begun to trickle into Voorhees at night for classes—or is it recess?—at what grizzled left wing Jody Shelley admiringly calls the Jagr Hockey School. "He loves hockey more than any guy in the room," says Shelley, a 10-year NHL veteran and one of Jagr's first enrollees. "Some guys want to go out, some read books, some watch movies. He just wants to be on the ice. He's really different than I thought he'd be, just a great guy to be around for every single one of us."

Through a 3--2 overtime loss at home to the Kings last Saturday, the Flyers have opened 3-0-1, picked up seven of a possible eight points and put everyone in the East on notice they they're again a contender for the Stanley Cup. Jagr, playing on the top line alongside center Claude Giroux and left wing James van Riemsdyk, had assists in three of the four games while adding an element of danger to the Philly power play. In the first period against Los Angeles, he held the puck deep in the offensive zone near the goal line, drew two defenders, then fed center Danny Brière at the opposite corner of the net for an easy tap-in. The Flyers appear to have found in Jagr both what they expected—a desperately needed gust of skill for a depleted attack—and what they could have never guessed: a source of joyful purpose in what had been a damaged locker room.

There were few reasons for Philadelphia to think that Jagr could play a significant off-ice role. In his previous NHL incarnation, he was the mullet-haired kid from Kladno who drove too fast (his license was suspended briefly in 2001 for too many speeding tickets), bet too much (a decade ago he owed more than $500,000 to an Internet gambling company) and was spoiled by early success (a pair of Cups in his first two seasons with the Penguins as a teenage sidekick to Mario Lemieux). "You think every year will be like that," Jagr says, sitting on a bench in the practice facility's dressing room.

He was one of the most decorated players in the NHL during his 17 brilliant seasons, from 1990 to 2008—winning a Hart Trophy and five scoring titles, and earning seven first-team All-Star selections—but was never able to get back to the Stanley Cup finals. Jagr advanced past the second round of the playoffs just once in his last 10 NHL seasons, a stretch that included extended stints with the Capitals and the Rangers. And when his teams came up short, the brunt of the fans' disappointment usually fell on the superstar who sometimes moped, didn't backcheck, wouldn't use his 6'3", 240-pound frame to bodycheck and had an uneasy relationship with the press. "[His] last three or four years [in the league]," says Flyers captain Chris Pronger, "it looked like he was checking in and checking out."

"Some people said, 'He doesn't smile,'" Jagr says. "[But] to some people, you laugh too much [and it's] like you're not serious. It's a different country, different language, different humor. You are who you are."

Jagr spent his final three-plus NHL seasons in New York, setting franchise records with 54 goals and 123 points in 2005--06, and scoring 15 points in 10 playoff games in 2008. But he felt the Rangers could have done more to bolster the club around him, and he resented the way they dragged their feet during contract talks in '07--08.

During the NHL lockout of 2004--05, Jagr had played 32 games with Avangard in the Siberian city of Omsk. Avangard was offering him a two-year, $14 million contract with an option for a third year, and the money was also close to tax-free. The Rangers and the Penguins, meanwhile, were offering one-year deals for comparable money, while the Oilers submitted a one-year deal at $8 million. By terms of the NHL's labor agreement, any player 35 or over who signs a multiyear agreement counts against the team's salary cap for the length of his contract, even if he retires before the deal ends, which is why older players usually sign for only a year at a time. But Jagr felt his performance and conditioning had earned the longer commitment he could find only in Omsk.

So on July 4, 2008, he abandoned North America for life in the KHL. Dostoyevsky had once been exiled to Omsk; now Jagr was doing it to himself. "It wasn't only money," he says of his decision. "Maybe I was looking for something. Russia changed me. Not much pressure. Not many distractions. Not many rules. I could follow my own, and I took them seriously."

In his self-imposed isolation, Jagr rededicated himself to his game. On off days, he would come home from practice at 2 p.m., take a nap, wake up without setting an alarm or looking at a watch and then drive back to the rink in the evening. "Sometimes there would be teammates, sometimes just some kids," he recalls. "We'd get on the ice, then play some soccer in the hallway, some basketball, then more ice, like you do when you're a kid. It was a great workout, but it was really fun too. And it was only seven minutes away. There was no traffic in winter because most people couldn't start their cars in the cold."

Jagr also began living for something more than just himself, embracing both his political and spiritual sides. He became a vocal supporter of the Civic Democratic Party, the leading conservative political organization in the Czech Republic, and sometimes visited with an Orthodox Christian priest who used to stop by the Avangard dressing room before games. One game in particular, in October 2008, prompted Jagr to reexamine his priorites. He was chatting on the bench with teammate Alexei Cherepanov, when, without warning, the 19-year-old right wing went into cardiac arrest at Jagr's side, dying a few hours later of an inflamed heart muscle. "It makes you think your time should be special," Jagr says.

When his contract with Omsk was up, Jagr decided to make one last run at a Stanley Cup. The Penguins were the apparent front-runners. But his early conversations with club management, including one with team owner Lemieux, didn't impress him. "I thought the fans wanted me," Jagr says, "but I didn't know if the Penguins wanted me. I didn't want to be on the third and fourth line playing seven, eight minutes; I wanted to make a difference."

For the older, wiser Jagr, Philadelphia was a perfect landing spot. The Flyers' internal tensions dated back to the summer of 2009, when Holmgren commented publicly about the need for his club to be more disciplined off the ice—a subtle swipe at his players' partying ways. After Peter Laviolette was hired as coach in December '09, he wanted his players to temporarily make the team a Dry Island, asking them to sign a pledge to abstain from drinking. Both leading goal scorer Jeff Carter and captain Mike Richards were among those who did not sign, and an uneasy détente prevailed.

The Flyers rallied to reach the 2010 Stanley Cup finals, but last season their flaws began to show: They had invested in a roster deep in capable forwards but had scrimped on goaltenders. Philly's goalies had a whopping 3.33 GAA and an abysmal .889 save percentage in the 2011 postseason, and Laviolette had to pull his starter in the first three games of a second-round sweep by the Bruins.

On June 23 Holmgren signed Ilya Bryzgalov, a Vezina Trophy finalist two seasons ago with the Coyotes, for nine years and $51 million. To pare salary, he unloaded both Carter ($5.27 million per year) and Richards ($5.75 million per year) on the same day and let forward Ville Leino walk as a free agent. To make up for the 78 goals the Flyers lost, Holmgren acquired a couple of good young forwards from L.A. for Richards—Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds—and signed Jagr to a bargain one-year deal for $3.3 million. "His size and patience give him so many options," says Pronger. "He's a great passer on the perimeter, and if he goes to the net with a step, you can't stop him. You can try to take his passing lane or his shooting lane, but there's no way you can take both." Adds Laviolette, "Our power play has a presence now. He opens things up for everyone else."

He has also become an acknowledged leader. "I really enjoy teaching the kids," says Jagr, and Van Riemsdyk, his 22-year-old linemate, has surveyed some of his evening classes. "He always puts the guy chasing him at the wrong angle," Van Riemsdyk says. "If he's close, he hunches forward and keeps his body down so you can never reach his arms or stick. He gives you the biggest obstacle to the puck before you even get to him. If you're coming from greater distance, he leans so [your momentum forces you to] roll off him."

It doesn't hurt that Jagr doesn't drink. His description of drunken friends criticizing other drunken friends sends him into fits of laughter. He is obviously comfortable setting a more sober tone in the dressing room. "They love him here," says Joe Mullen, a Flyers assistant and former Pittsburgh teammate. "Sometimes you have to step away from a place to find out how much it means to you."

Honeymoons die fast in Philadelphia, where the Flyers have lost in all six of their trips to the finals since the franchise's last Stanley Cup, in 1975. Ask Mike Schmidt, Donovan McNabb and Allen Iverson how fast the warm fuzzies can fade. Jagr never played more than 55 games during the shortened Russian schedule, and it will be hard for him not to wear down at his advanced age. But he insists that he is not concerned. He plans to finish his career one day with Kladno, the Czech team he also owns. "I'll play until 50," he says, "first in the Czech B League, then C League, then I'll make up my own league. As long as I can play on some rink, I'll be smiling."

[Lesky]

NHL.com analyst Kevin Weekes takes a look at Jaromir Jagr's conditioning habits

By Kevin Weekes - NHL Network Analyst / Weekes on the Web

There's no denying the skill of Jaromir Jagr. But something people either ignore or don't know about is the man's work ethic.

When we were teammates with the Rangers for two seasons, between 2005 and 2007, we also lived in the same building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We didn't commute to and from the rink every day (he carpooled a lot with Petr Prucha), but we drove to and from the practice facility in Greenburgh together sometimes. I got to know him pretty well. He's a different guy -- a somewhat spiritual guy -- but his willingness to work was unrivaled.
Jaromir Jagr has four points, all assists, in his first five games with the Flyers.

Going back to his days in Pittsburgh when he was a teenager, Jagr always was the first guy on the ice. It's easy to assume someone with his talent at that young age might be cocky and act as though he has everything figured out, but that wasn't the case then.

During practices with the Rangers, Jagr usually was the last guy to leave the ice. And even after he left the ice, he would just come back on the ice again after taking off his hockey gear and changing into a track suit. He'd spend hours taking shots on me. He'd ask me how his shot looked. If I told him the puck wasn't coming off his stick hot or the right way, he'd stay there and keep working.

A lot of times, even that wouldn't be the end of it.

There are some players who work out at the practice facility for show, but not only was Jagr a guy who stayed late and worked out and did his own thing, there were times he'd take the 45-minute drive back to the practice facility at night when no one was around and work out and practice some more. The guy is a special player.

When it comes to elite athletes in any sport, whether it's Jagr in hockey or Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Kobe Bryant in basketball, that's the reason why they stay where they are for so long. While Jagr was sneaking workouts in the middle of the night in Westchester County, a guy like Kobe will have a basketball court built in his mansion. Jordan and Bird were renowned for their willingness to stay late and work on their games. Jordan actually was the first guy to build a gym at his home, and he took the time to learn his patented fade-away jumper from Hakeem Olajuwon. Extra effort usually is a theme with great athletes.

That type of player can be infectious for younger players. They see a guy like Jagr busting his tail in practice after winning all his awards and Stanley Cups and they want to do the same thing. There's nothing bad about having a guy like that on your team, even at the age of 39.
Jagr admits to not setting any goals in his return to the NHL, only to help the team win.

Jagr currently is the ninth-leading scorer in NHL history, with 1,603 points. When he left the NHL three years ago to play in Russia, people on the outside might've thought Jagr was at his end after scoring just 71 points. But that had nothing to do with his desire and willingness to put in the extra work. He was all about that. Playing in Russia was something he felt he needed to do. He's a different cat, and some might think he's not team-oriented because he keeps to himself.

But that's absolutely not the case. I'm just glad I didn't have to be the one who drove him from Manhattan to Westchester when he got the itch to work out in the middle of the night. NHL.com analyst Kevin Weekes takes a look at Jaromir Jagr's conditioning habits
Wednesday, 10.19.2011 / 5:18 PM / News
NHL.com
By Kevin Weekes - NHL Network Analyst / Weekes on the Web

There's no denying the skill of Jaromir Jagr. But something people either ignore or don't know about is the man's work ethic.

When we were teammates with the Rangers for two seasons, between 2005 and 2007, we also lived in the same building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We didn't commute to and from the rink every day (he carpooled a lot with Petr Prucha), but we drove to and from the practice facility in Greenburgh together sometimes. I got to know him pretty well. He's a different guy -- a somewhat spiritual guy -- but his willingness to work was unrivaled.
Jaromir Jagr has four points, all assists, in his first five games with the Flyers.

Going back to his days in Pittsburgh when he was a teenager, Jagr always was the first guy on the ice. It's easy to assume someone with his talent at that young age might be cocky and act as though he has everything figured out, but that wasn't the case then.

During practices with the Rangers, Jagr usually was the last guy to leave the ice. And even after he left the ice, he would just come back on the ice again after taking off his hockey gear and changing into a track suit. He'd spend hours taking shots on me. He'd ask me how his shot looked. If I told him the puck wasn't coming off his stick hot or the right way, he'd stay there and keep working.

A lot of times, even that wouldn't be the end of it.

There are some players who work out at the practice facility for show, but not only was Jagr a guy who stayed late and worked out and did his own thing, there were times he'd take the 45-minute drive back to the practice facility at night when no one was around and work out and practice some more. The guy is a special player.

When it comes to elite athletes in any sport, whether it's Jagr in hockey or Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Kobe Bryant in basketball, that's the reason why they stay where they are for so long. While Jagr was sneaking workouts in the middle of the night in Westchester County, a guy like Kobe will have a basketball court built in his mansion. Jordan and Bird were renowned for their willingness to stay late and work on their games. Jordan actually was the first guy to build a gym at his home, and he took the time to learn his patented fade-away jumper from Hakeem Olajuwon. Extra effort usually is a theme with great athletes.

That type of player can be infectious for younger players. They see a guy like Jagr busting his tail in practice after winning all his awards and Stanley Cups and they want to do the same thing. There's nothing bad about having a guy like that on your team, even at the age of 39.
Jagr admits to not setting any goals in his return to the NHL, only to help the team win.

Jagr currently is the ninth-leading scorer in NHL history, with 1,603 points. When he left the NHL three years ago to play in Russia, people on the outside might've thought Jagr was at his end after scoring just 71 points. But that had nothing to do with his desire and willingness to put in the extra work. He was all about that. Playing in Russia was something he felt he needed to do. He's a different cat, and some might think he's not team-oriented because he keeps to himself.

But that's absolutely not the case. I'm just glad I didn't have to be the one who drove him from Manhattan to Westchester when he got the itch to work out in the middle of the night.

[André]

He did the salute...

[bhaw]

He had 4 breakaways last night, lol. Looked like the Jagr of the mid 90s.

[Lesky]

That is weird as hell to see. Jagr Salute...Flyers crowd cheering...Flyers uniform? Still doesn't fully compute.

[Lesky]

Jagr was so good last night. You could tell early he had that jump that he didn’t have in the last two games. The Flyers might be better off giving him a few games off here and there to keep his legs fresh so we can see more of these types of performances from him.

I can’t say one negative thing about Jagr. I used to hate him when he was with Pittsburgh but you can tell he cares about helping this team and as a fan you have to appreciate that. The game is very important to him and that’s refreshing to see compared to some of the personalities we’ve had here in the past.

LOL. The Flyers fans thought Jagr was the biggest cancer before he signed with them

And now they are all on the bandwagon.

But its pretty obvious Jagrs is a changed man when it comes to to the lockeroom etc, all indications are that he has been a big hit with the entire Flyers organisation. I would expect a 40 year old man to have grown up, so its hardly a suprise.

[shafnutz05]

He had 4 breakaways last night, lol. Looked like the Jagr of the mid 90s.

[columbia]

I'm still slightly irritated that they didn't offer him $3M.

[ExPatriatePen]

The "good" news is that Jagr is borderline manic.

Philly goes on a dry spell and all of this could change in an instant.

[Lesky]

The "good" news is that Jagr is borderline manic.

Philly goes on a dry spell and all of this could change in an instant.

Jagr has been on a dry spell until tonight more or less. And all compliments have been said about him during this time.

But obviously if he produces even less points than at the moment, I would expect him to start blaming himself.

Whether or not he poisons the room in Philadelphia, well that remains to be seen.

If Steve Sullivan could finish, he would be almost equal to Jagr anyway

[Three Stars]

The Penguins should sign Eric Lindros to a tryout just so we can see what life in the Bizarro World truly is like.

I remember all the things that Philly fans used to say about Jagr.

[pcm]

The "good" news is that Jagr is borderline manic.

Philly goes on a dry spell and all of this could change in an instant.

Jagr went to the organization where he's the best fit.

[Idoit40fans]

Jagr was so good last night. You could tell early he had that jump that he didn’t have in the last two games. The Flyers might be better off giving him a few games off here and there to keep his legs fresh so we can see more of these types of performances from him.

I can’t say one negative thing about Jagr. I used to hate him when he was with Pittsburgh but you can tell he cares about helping this team and as a fan you have to appreciate that. The game is very important to him and that’s refreshing to see compared to some of the personalities we’ve had here in the past.

LOL. The Flyers fans thought Jagr was the biggest cancer before he signed with them

And now they are all on the bandwagon.

But its pretty obvious Jagrs is a changed man when it comes to to the lockeroom etc, all indications are that he has been a big hit with the entire Flyers organisation. I would expect a 40 year old man to have grown up, so its hardly a suprise.

Penguins fans thought he was a cancer AFTER he was a part of their first and at the time only stanley cup championships. Which is more puzzling?

[Sarcastic]

Little late to the party, but I want to mention I was blown away hearing Jagr refer to Giroux as Mario Lamieux and later say that Mario himself couldn't make a play Giroux made. I know he's trying to build him up psychologically and that's fine, but that's too bizarre. Not only Giroux isn't Crosby, but Crosby isn't Mario. I'll just file it away in the *stupid things that come out of Jagr's mouth* cabinet.

[Lesky]

Little late to the party, but I want to mention I was blown away hearing Jagr refer to Giroux as Mario Lamieux and later say that Mario himself couldn't make a play Giroux made. I know he's trying to build him up psychologically and that's fine, but that's too bizarre. Not only Giroux isn't Crosby, but Crosby isn't Mario. I'll just file it away in the *stupid things that come out of Jagr's mouth* cabinet.

LOL

Some of you people are funny. In an interview later Jagr was questioned again about the the remarks about Giroux and Lemieux and Jagr was just laughing out loud saying he could not believe some people did not understand it was a joke

But maybe you were Sarcastic with your message?

[ExPatriatePen]

Little late to the party, but I want to mention I was blown away hearing Jagr refer to Giroux as Mario Lamieux and later say that Mario himself couldn't make a play Giroux made. I know he's trying to build him up psychologically and that's fine, but that's too bizarre. Not only Giroux isn't Crosby, but Crosby isn't Mario. I'll just file it away in the *stupid things that come out of Jagr's mouth* cabinet.

LOL

Some of you people are funny. In an interview later Jagr was questioned again about the the remarks about Giroux and Lemieux and Jagr was just laughing out loud saying he could not believe some people did not understand it was a joke

But maybe you were Sarcastic with your message?

Jagr has never ever taken responsibility for Anything he's ever said.

If you've followed Jags for more than ten minutes you know that.

[Tomas]

Jagr has never ever taken responsibility for Anything he's ever said.

Since I need just one example to disprove the above statement, here we go:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside ... _notebook/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At no time did he deny the remarks.

...which would have been an extremely easy strategy (used until now by countless lame players - Petr Sykora stands out as a shining example).

Q.E.D.

[ExPatriatePen]

Jagr has never ever taken responsibility for Anything he's ever said.

Since I need just one example to disprove the above statement, here we go:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside ... _notebook/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At no time did he deny the remarks.

...which would have been an extremely easy strategy (used until now by countless lame players - Petr Sykora stands out as a shining example).

Q.E.D.

He didn't exactly "stand behind them" either...

Jagr...

said the remarks were "nothing," but later yelled to a Pittsburgh reporter that if he [the reporter] wanted the team to lose than he should print the remarks.

[pens#1]

Jagr>Sullivan Shero should have upped his offer, plain and simple

[canaan]

Shero should have upped his offer, plain and simple

No