Jagr Never Gave Anyone A Guarantee And Won’t Be Starting Now
Added on Jul 03, 2011 by J Merrill in
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There are no guarantees in any sport, and that certainly holds true for the National Hockey League, and thats why the Flyers most famous signing Jaromir Jagr isn’t prepared to give any. Jagr says he has no idea how is NHL return is going to go, but he can promise that he will be giving it his all.
Jagr told the media Saturday, “There are no guarantees. If I didn’t believe, why come here? I could easily stay in Russia, make a lot more money and play 50 games. I wanted to try it. I wanted to have the feeling. I believe it’s for my good, and hopefully the team too. I’ve got only one goal and that’s to make people happy, those people who believed I can be good. If I make them happy, I’ll be happy.”
The question many Penguins fan have is, If you aren’t doing it for the money, why not sign with your old team? Jagr said he didn’t think that he would get the playing time he would get, and thats why he signed with the Flyers. Jagr explained “For me it’s an advantage to have centermen like Briere and Giroux who have a right-handed shot. If I were playing in Pittsburgh, where it’s (Sidney) Crosby or (Evgeni) Malkin, both left-handed, I don’t think I would be able to play there. If go to Detroit, (Pavel) Datsyuk and (Henrik) Zetterberg are left-handed. I don’t think I would have a chance to play at all.”
Jagr said he spoke with Flyers GM Paul Holmgren and coach Peter Laviolette, and he said they all feel he would plug in really well to the team. Jagr continued “I wasn’t in the NHL for three years but I followed it, and I know Philadelphia’s defense is very good. There are some guys that I played against and it was always tough to play against them. (They’re) not only good defensively, but they are also good offensively — that’s very important in the new NHL.”
As far as the upset Penguins fans, Jagr says he didn’t make any promises to anyone, and that he knows this is a risk for him take this later in his career. He said “I didn’t promise anybody anything that I’m going to go back. If the Pittsburgh Penguins feel I did something wrong, or something bad. I don’t think I did something bad. If they feel like that, I cannot change their minds. I was a free agent and I had a chance to pick whatever is best for me. I had the option to pick. If somebody wants you or they’re telling you that they would like you to be on their team, (it) doesn’t mean I have to go there. I still had a choice to make a decision where I wanted to go.”
Jagr concluded by saying he knows that there will be pressure, but his biggest fear will be if he lets down the Philadelphia Flyers. He said “There is always going to be pressure. That’s not the problem. The only thing I worry about is there are a lot of people who counted on me to help them. If I fail or I play bad, people are going to criticize me and that’s fine. But, if I play bad, people are going to criticize those people who brought me to Philadelphia and that would be tough for me. That would be tough for me because I let somebody down who believed in me. In my age, that’s the toughest thing.”
