Rangers Report

Jagr straddles the proverbial fence

March

As if my post from before didn’t already hint at as much, Jaromir Jagr was predictably noncommital when it came to the subject of his plans for next season.

“I think we should worry about that a little later after the season,” Jagr said. “How to explain it? There was still a chance I was going to hit the numbers (84 points for him and and appearance in the second round for the Rangers) and I was going to be here for sure. Now I’m not going to hit it and I’m totally OK with free agency. But I still have a contract here and I’m going to try to play my best, so whatever happens, happens. I don’t know.”

This all comes in the wake of Glen Sather’s comments in Prague that he wants to re-sign the captain before he becomes a free agent July 1.Jagr said he hadn’t heard that—“I was in Buffalo,” he said—but now that he did, he sounded skeptical.

“I know how people react when there’s pressure from media,” he cracked. “You cannot say the truth, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just want to have a great playoffs. That’s all I worry about.”

Naturally, Jagr has been thinking about this more than he let on today, but it’s clear it’s not something he wants out for public consumption while the Rangers are still playing. As far as he’s concerned, the only certainty about his future is where he’ll finish his career. It probably won’t be next year, or even the year after that, but eventually he wants to finish playing in Kladno, where he started as a junior a near quarter century ago.

“I know that for sure because at least it’s not the NHL and I can play there,” Jagr said. “That’s what I know for sure. If nothing bad happens, I’m going to finish my hockey career in Kladno.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 2:12 pm by Sam Weinman.
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