Jaromir Jagr continued his blog on this Czech website over the holiday weekend and he had some interesting things to say about the end of the Flyers’ season and his future with the team. Not interesting in the ohhhh he threw this player under the bus way, but in a wow, that was candid sort of way.
Keep in mind, this is translated (I think), so some meaning gets lost:
On losing to the Devils:
I still can’t explain why we stopped skating, all of a sudden! Or why we were so weak, when everything had been ideal against Pittsburgh. I don’t understand at all how they could suddenly outplay us…
The matches were tight, but our overall performance was worse than theirs, that much is clear. Perhaps we had all been convinced we would win before the tie actually started. And that might also have been a problem.
None of our team had the drive and skating we had shown against Pittsburgh. The Devils’ players were much stronger at the boards, we were not helping each other and seemed to be scattered on the ice. It reminded me of a basketball match in which all of us are moving somewhere at the three-point line and wondering why we are unable to go after and snatch any rebound…
We were simply too dispersed. We were like a palm; they were like a fist. They were sticking together; we were like a hand with outstretched fingers. We really were feeling desperate at that time.
On being injured:
As to myself, there were rumors regarding my injury. The fact is I did have problems with my thigh, it had happened during the last game against Pittsburgh, but then I had a week to get myself together. The thigh actually did not hurt that much during the games, so I don’t think I should use it as an excuse.
But the fact is I could not train so much, I attended perhaps one training session. And when a man of my age misses five or six training sessions, it is felt … Especially if you take into account the pace of play-off games. But there is no use to dwell on it; injuries are part of play-off games. I wasn’t the only one. However, there was another thing that struck me.
On his future with the Flyers:
As to my future, we’ll see which way the winds will blow. There’s no reason to hurry. I do not intend to make any keynote statements now. There is some situation now, but what if Philadelphia decides to sign other free agents to whom it will give more chances to play?
In that case, it wouldn’t make any sense for me to stay. It wouldn’t be good, either for me or for the Flyers. For the time being, what I have said still holds true – I would like to spend another year in the NHL. But let’s see what will happen. A lot will depend on the direction the Flyers will want to follow.
There was more, about how much fun he had and his playing time, which you can read here.
H/T to reader Matt
