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Jagr wants to resign with the Flyers


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Jaromir Jagr admits he hasn’t been this happy to play in the National Hockey League in a very long time.

To that end, Jagr said on Thursday that he wants to re-sign a one-year deal for next season.

He’s been hinting all along he wanted this, but kept saying he didn’t want to commit until after the season. That changed today. He was more definitive in stating he intends to re-sign.

And, he added, he is not looking for Sidney Crosby dollars.

“If I play good? I don’t think it’s going to be a problem because, from my side, I’m happy,” he said. “I like this team too much. I don’t want to go anywhere.”

Though he could likely making $5 or $6 million elsewhere, he said it’s not about the money, it’s about personal happiness.

“Can you buy happiness for two years?” Jagr asked. “Are you gonna take a risk to go somewhere else and not be happy? I want to be happy. I want to come to work and be happy.

“There’s a lot of places guys don’t like each other and have to come to [work] because that is their job. I don’t want that.

“If it were about money, I wouldn’t have come here when I could have made three times more in Russia.”

The Flyers are going to have cap issues next season with more than $58 million already allocated to present contracts.

Jagr, who will be unrestricted, earns $3.3 million.

The Flyers have no idea whether Chris Pronger will ever play again and if they replace his salary with a player of equal value, it makes this even trickier if Pronger were to come back at some point in time in 2012-13.

A familiar face was around the Flyers practice facility this week in former defenseman Petr Svoboda.

It’s been more than three months since Svoboda has seen his two Flyer clients, Jagr and Jakub Voracek.

Both have contracts that expire this summer.

“There is nothing going on right now,” Svoboda said. “I am just here to see the boys.”

Svoboda did speak with general manager Paul Holmgren to check in about his players, Holmgren said. Clearly, they’re setting things up for future talks.

Jagr doesn’t want any contract discussion in-season because it would be a distraction.

Voracek is a restricted free agent.

Jagr said that the combination of a winning team, young, enthusiastic players, the coaching staff and general feeling in the dressing room is something he’s had before and he feels it suits him best.

“It’s like a family and it’s not like that everywhere,” Jagr said.

That said, he admitted he doesn’t know how things might be here if “things were bad and we were losing and fighting for the playoffs.”

“Everything is good here and nobody is panicking and that is what I like,” Jagr said. “We lose but coach has confidence. We don’t panic, we don’t switch lines. Our line didn’t play good for four or five games and nobody panicked. Coach told us we had to play better but no one panicked.”

Told that Flyer fans are nervous about his re-signing, he said, “They don’t have to worry. If I’m going to play good, I’m probably going to be here."

per Tim P

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I like his approach. At least he's being honest with himself and fans regarding his playing ability. He could easily try to sign a longer term deal and then suck and just sit back and collect paychecks but seems like he want to make sure he can commit to something before actually committing.

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Told that Flyer fans are nervous about his re-signing, he said, “They don’t have to worry. If I’m going to play good, I’m probably going to be here."

Somehow, I actually trust Jagr. I like that he's willing to take a little less money to be happy too. Exciting!

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