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« The Oiler$ Did What? | Main | SIGNING ALERT: PENS EXTEND CROSBY"S CONTRACT »

July 10, 2007

Comments

thedirtyboy

Wow, I hope you're not nauseous from that crazy "spin" you just created!!!! Let me recap your post using more elementary wording:

Section #1
Blah blah blah blah blah... Jagr wants more money blah blah and Mario is not there and Jagr can't lead on his own so he quits on his team.

Section #2
Blah blah blah blah blah... Jagr gets that money he was seeking, but now feels unwanted and oh yeah he still can't lead so he quits on this team again!

Section #3
"Jagr feels misunderstood"

Uhh... What???

Bottom line is that Jagr is a temperamental. That is a polite sports synonym for the word baby. Having said that, he is a franchise talent who can dominate the puck at will. That is the key component "at will". As in, when he feels like it. When things are going well he's cracking jokes with the press. When things are not going well he's not even doing interviews. But please lets never confuse a player's talent with a player's character. They are not the same thing.


The Hockey Rabbi

No spin buddy. I presented both sides of the argument.

MOSS

You cant blame a person for being a person. Yes Jagr can be a little tempermental at times. But if you think about it, he learned it from the best. The greatest player in the history of the game (not named Wayne) used to have 1 knock on his game- and that was mailing it in. Mario, too, was given a hard time for what seemed like half-hearted efforts, especially in losses. Yes its scary to think what kind of numbers he wouldv'e posted if this is true & he did in fact mail it in regularly. But the point is that there are few breeds of players who give '110%' no matter what. Jagr was exposed to Mario, who at that point was far and away the best player in the game & probably figured that its a star's rite to be a whiner. After all, Mario retired in '97 because he couldn't deal with the game. What does that say to the league? I do believe that we havent seen that side of Jagr because the team has generally been winning, but at the same time I really feel that Jags is at the point of his career where he really just wants to win another cup- without being in Mario's shadow. I honestly think he will be fine with the move, so long as theyr'e winning. Besides, if he is stupid enough to not realize what the team just got,in Drury especially, than he's a retard. The guy year in & year out is among league leaders in game winning & tying goals- regular season & playoffs. If you don't believe me, answer this trivia question- who scored the game tying goal in Game 3 in the first minute of the 3rd period & the game tying goal with 7.7 seconds left in game 5 this past years quarterfinals against the Rangers? The guy is a proven winner- he even won the coin toss against Gomez to see who would wear #27!

thedirtyboy

First, Jagr is misunderstood. Now, Jagr is a baby because he played with Mario? Did you guys just have a session at 11H???

Hold on, I think the guy from Sims is at the door. Someone set me up.

Garnet

The comparison to the core of the classic Oilers is pretty questionable. They weren't leaving a sinking ship -- they won the Cup the year after Coffey left -- and didn't leave because they "wanted to win," they left for more money. It may have been a position perhaps greeted with more sympathy in those days, given that hockey players earned so much less.

The Hockey Rabbi

Garnet:

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate your taking the time to comment. You make a fair point but I disagree. If those players only left Edmonton for more money, that would only strengthen my point: why weren't they vilified? If a European player held out just for money they'd be destroyed (Yashin and Nedved did that and not only were they vilified, they were "punished" by being left on the sidelines for an entire season). As far as people having more sympathy for those Oilers because they made less money, I don't buy that. They were all superstars doing well financially. Yes, salaries were nothing like what they are today, but those athletes still made a heck of a lot more money than your average joe.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking those guys. I'm simply asking whether it's possible that a double standard exists in the NHL between European players and North American ones? I think that it does. Things have gotten better over the years, but there's still work to be done. We'll get there, I have faith in my fellow man!

Michael

According to my "Washington insider" Jagr's life at the end of his time in Pittsburgh and through most of his time with the Capitals, his life was a real wreck and he was distraught over the breakup of his girlfriend at that time. (Golly, she was a real looker too.) Do you know anybody who brings their personal life with them to work and cannot separate the two? That is Jagr.

Jagr's failure in Washington was hopefully a lesson in humility. If his ego back then could do it all.. then Craig Patrick *bleep* him to send him in a place where he would HAVE to do it all.

But from what I hear now, Jagr is set to get married to his current lady. Perhaps he has his head on straight enough to say that his adapting to the "new look Rangers" will be good as long as they win.

Training camp is still a long way off. It is too early to judge on these transactions anyway.

Kind "Rabbi": Please be careful with your "truth is somewhere in the middle" philosophy. It is quite dangerous in my opinion. But that is best reserved for a debate elsewhere at another time.

The Hockey Rabbi

Michael, I don't know who your Washington Insider is so I can't comment on that. But giving this insider the benefit of the doubt, I know plenty of people who bring their personal lives to work: Gretzky left Edmonton to go to L.A. and more than one "insider" speculated that he chose LA to satisfy his wife, ditto for Pronger leaving Edmonton. How about when Federove fell apart on the ice which reportedly had something to do with a failed romance with Anna K., how about Modano struggling in Dallas which reportedly had something to do with massive financial losses he suffered in private business investments. How about Adam Graves (a true heart and soul type) struggling on the ice following the death of one of his children. The list goes on and on. The bottom line is that athletes are human. There's nothing wrong with that.
As far as my philosophy of the truth being somewhere in the middle, I'm sticking with it. There are at least two sides to every story.
Anyway, I'd like to hear more fom you as to the details of Jagr's exodus from the Pens. As a Ranger fan, I can tell you that his tenure here has beensuperb. I'm curious to get a fan's insight as to what went wrong in Pittsburgh. Thanks.

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