Jaromir Jagr
Jaromir Jagr
Jaromír Jágr; born February 15, 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League. He has formerly played in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers. After leaving the Rangers, he played for three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey Leaguewith Avangard Omsk before returning to the...
NationalityCzechoslovakian
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth15 February 1972
CityKladno, Czech Republic
Maybe if we would have anybody good on the power play that was right-handed, he wouldn't get a chance to play there. It's about opportunity.
On special teams, we weren't very sharp. They scored three goals on the power play and we didn't have any. Five on five, we can play with anybody, we know that. I don't think we're a worse team than them. Maybe less talented, but worse? No way.
Maybe we are not good enough yet. Maybe we're not there. Maybe it shouldn't surprise anybody. I thought we played good 5-on-5; the power play and the penalty kill, that's where we made our mistakes. Could we have won the game? Yes. But we lost it. I don't think we are worse than they are. Maybe we're not as talented.
One positive thing is we don't have to travel very far. Maybe our fans will be in the building. Maybe it will feel like seven home games. It's good for hockey and it's good for New York. More people are going to get interested in the playoffs.
Maybe it would be better not to risk (injury), but I'm not going to question what I did. I'm going to do everything I can to be back to help. If I can't, it's over. But I believe we can (win the series).
Maybe for some guys it would take a month, hopefully my body is different and heals quick. I'll have to pray a lot and hope for miracles. If the pain lets me play a little bit, I'll be on the ice the first chance I have.
We're never going to have the experience like Detroit that has a lot of veteran guys. But you have to play differently. You have to be smart and maybe bring more energy.
It wasn't a good game for us. We were kind of flat, maybe we were overconfident. We scored a goal and we were excited and then they scored their second one. That's what killed us.
Everybody says your health is the most important thing, and he's a perfect example. If he would have been healthy, he would break a lot of records. Maybe not all of them, but I'm pretty sure a lot of them. He was the best player I've ever seen. He was the most gifted at everything - size, strength, skill, how smart he was. There is no other player like him.
We played against very good teams, playoff teams for sure, maybe candidates to win the Stanley Cup. They're already playing playoff hockey and I don't think we're playing it yet. The two games teach us we are not there yet. We have to play smarter.
We gave the other team a lot of odd-man rushes. Maybe we are tired and we're making mistakes, but this is not the way you want to go into the playoffs.
I'm not thinking about it at all. Maybe because I'm older, I look at it differently than if I were younger. I don't think worrying too much about it before is going to help you. I don't even think I'll think about it when the Games start. It's when the important Games start.
It would take a miracle (to play). It's feeling better, but there's too much pain.
It was very special for me. I had so much time to look around and put the puck where I wanted to.