Jagr just signed in Russia

[ikiss]

With Omsk.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u ... l=ru&tl=en

[Lesky]

What a turd.....

A few minutes ago, Jagr (I think) just accepted the deal with Avangard Omsk in the CHL. I'm not 100% sure b/c 1) I don't read or speak Russian and 2) there are no hockey websites in english that can either confirm or deny it other than Wikipedia, and they state that on July 4 2008, Jagr agrees to a deal with Omsk. On the Omsk website, there is a breaking news story with a pic of Jagr on the front page.

Here is a link to the official team site: http://www.hawk.ru/

[Lesky]

Short translation:

On July 4th the Genaral Manager of HK Avangard Anatoli Bardin has concluded a contract with a 2+1 scheme with one of the best forwards of the NHL Jaromir Jagr.

http://hawk.ru/news/4536.html

"I'm disappointed that I'm not going to be in New York, but I've always believed in my life that things happen for a reason, and that's how I look at this," Jagr told The Post last night. "Coming to the Rangers was great for me, and I owe Glen thanks for making the trade with Washington [on Jan. 23, 2004] to bring me here.

"I can't say I regret anything that happened here. We didn't win the Stanley Cup, but there's a lot of luck that goes into that, too, even if you have a great team. Well, I guess I regret that I didn't get 84 points this season. If that had happened, I'd still be here."

"With the contracts for Scotty, Dru and Hank [Henrik Lundqvist], and then signing [Wade] Redden, they have almost $30M in four players, so there wasn't enough for me after that," Jagr said. "The Rangers wanted to get better on defense and they spent a lot of money on Redden.

"That's OK. That's what they thought would make them a better team. If I did a better job with Scotty or Dru, it might be different."

"People think that it's better to have a lot of choices, but sometimes having one choice is best because you can't make the wrong one," Jagr said. "I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I'll make that choice when it's time.

"I want to thank Glen and Tom and the Rangers. I want to thank all the people who supported me. Being in New York was special.

"And I also want to say to the people like Mike Milbury who made their living by criticizing me all the time, that they can kiss my [butt]."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07042008/sp ... 118481.htm

[shaw333]

If it as true as it looks, I am glad I got to see the real Jagr a few last times in the rangers series...Thank you Jags for dazzling us with your greatness one last time

[ikiss]

Anyway, Jagr ended his NHL career in Pittsburgh

[Collider]

Man, what a totally in-character move for Jagr. I didn't get into hockey until after he was gone from here, and I'll tell you what... I always thought he was a money grubbing diarrhea.

[holeinone]

Wpw are you totally wrong

[chaos5190]

I don't see it anywhere else yet, so hopefully it isn't true!!!

[Lesky]

Wpw are you totally wrong

WPW?

[bringitonhome]

Wpw are you totally wrong

WPW?

WOW?

[PenguinHockeyFanatic]

I'm sure morale is sky high for Scuds and Sydor as management scrambled to dump them for a locker room poison.

Leave it too Lord of the Ego's to leave this countries team with a Lady Liberty logo on Independence Day. And in such classy fashion too as he lowers himself below the status of a guy who once beat up an NHL fan with his own shoe.

I only wish this clown car act would never end.

[manicmonday18]

I'm sure morale is sky high for Scuds and Sydor as management scrambled to dump them for a locker room poison.

doubt it. they can add just like we can. too many defensemen vs. assured 40 goals....hmm. I'm sure one of them is still going to get dumped...maybe in return for a low draft pick. I'd take being traded for a Hall of Fame cancer over a 3rd round pick anyday....

[Collider]

I'm sure morale is sky high for Scuds and Sydor as management scrambled to dump them for a locker room poison.

doubt it. they can add just like we can. too many defensemen vs. assured 40 goals....hmm. I'm sure one of them is still going to get dumped...maybe in return for a low draft pick. I'd take being traded for a Hall of Fame cancer over a 3rd round pick anyday....

Man, I would hope it's freakin' Sydor... Scuds is the man.

[IronDukes37]

Those quotes, from a NY Daily News article, are about Jagr leaving the Rangers.
There is nothing in the NYDN article about going to Russia or leaving the NHL.

[BillinDayton]

The Wiki entry's translation via babelfish, however accurate it is, suggests the GM in Russia "Highly estimated" the signing soon...

Given the creativity that we've seen in the other "arrangements" that have come out of Russia. I say this should not be taken as fact just yet...

There may be stipulations that IF Jagr doesn't sign with an NHL team then Omsk has him locked up...

Who knows?

Given who we're talking about-I repeat, who the hell knows?

[Lesky]

JAGRS LAST WORDS ABOUT THE PENGUINS, from this years playoffs:



http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/...-lightning-rod/

The Pittsburgh media wanted to hear Jagr’s take on returning to Pittsburgh, the team he left under unhappy circumstances in 2001. He looked relaxed and wanted to explain the circumstances from that time, why he asked to be traded, a move the Penguins fans have interpreted as betrayal.

“We went through the tough times with bankruptcy and the team didn’t have a lot of money,â€￾ Jagr said. “Marty Straka, Robert Lang, Alex Kovalev were free agents, all three of them. We weren’t going to be able to sign all of them. I thought, it’s going to be a lot easier for a team to trade one guy than let go three guys. That’s why I made the step. It’s going to be easier for the organization. If they lost all three of them, I didn’t think it was going to be good for the team.â€￾

Jagr did not try to defend his actions at the time and he said when he did talk, he struggled to express his feelings in English.
He emphatically denied one of the impressions people had, that he did not want to play again with Mario Lemieux when he came back after his first retirement that year. Lemieux was Jagr’s boyhood idol, the leader of the team that won Stanley Cups in 1991 and ‘92.

“Without him, I wouldn’t be playing right now,â€￾ Jagr said. “I learned everything from him. I’m going to still respect him until I die. You have respect the players, the teachers that you learned from. Without him, without being drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, without seeing him play, who knows where I would be? Maybe I wouldn’t play hockey at all.â€￾

[url="http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080425.wsptrangerearly25/GSStory/GlobeSportsHockey/home"]http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home[/url]

Pittsburgh fans have long memories. They remember his lament during that final season that he was "dying alive" in Pittsburgh and they still seethe.

Jagr, though, tried to rebuild a bridge to the fans Friday morning after the Rangers' game-day skate in preparation for the opener of their Eastern Conference semi-final against the Penguins. He said the real reason he wanted the trade was to allow the cash-strapped Penguins to sign three other stars and some of the things he said to precipitate the deal with the Washington Capitals were youthful folly combined with his struggles to speak English after arriving from the Czech Republic.

"It happened eight years ago and nobody knew the truth," Jagr said. "Yes I did, I told [general manager] Craig Patrick I wanted to be traded. But this is the real reason I did it.. I was sad when they traded me.

"Maybe I could have pushed them to find the money or maybe get the new arena. But when you are a young player you don't think like a businessman. You don't understand how tough it is to make money."

In the 2000-01 season, the Penguins had just come through their second bout of bankruptcy. They only remained in Pittsburgh because Mario Lemieux found the financing to take over the team and later that season he came out of retirement, in part because the team desperately needed a gate attraction to stay solvent.

By then, however, Jagr was in a long public sulk. He fought with his coaches and teammates and the media.

Now, he says, looking back with the wisdom of 36-year-old eyes, it was all done to keep forwards Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka and Robert Lang in Penguins uniforms. All three were set to become free agents at the end of the 2000-01 season and Jagr said he knew the team needed them more than him. After Lemieux made his comeback halfway through the season, Jagr said the team could afford to lose him.

"It was impossible to sign all of them but if we didn't sign them, we didn't have a chance to do anything," Jagr said. "I thought it would be a lot easier for the team to trade one guy than [get rid of] three guys.

"I just wanted to make it easier for the team plus there was no reason to keep me when Mario came back. I thought it was going to be good for the team."

That is where Jagr's explanation gets a little thin. Thanks to Lemieux's comeback, the Penguins did advance to the 2001 Eastern Conference final, which made them a little more stable financially. They did manage to sign Kovalev, Straka and Lang but this did not bring much success.

The Penguins failed to make the playoffs for the next four seasons and fell to the bottom of the league. Lang stuck around for one more season, Kovalev for two and Straka for three. Straka is now Jagr's centre on the Rangers and it may be more than coincidence that Jagr is playing his best hockey in years.

"Some comments were made," Jagr said of his departure in the summer of 2001. "You've got to understand, English is not my first language. I was kind of reacting to my situation when I was in Pittsburgh, with the coach [Ivan Hlinka]. It was before Mario came back from retirement and we played together.

"The coach tried to put three guys together. They were great guys, no question it was good line — Lang, Straka and Kovalev."

The problem was. Jagr said, that left no centre on the team good enough to play with him. At least not until Lemieux came back.

"There was no one else left on the team, and a lot of guys expected me to have the same numbers, the same goals," he said. "It's impossible when you don't have a set-up man. Everything changed when Mario came back. I scored a lot of goals because of him."

By the time Jagr left, his relationship with Lemieux was stretched thin. But, he says, he will always have great admiration for Lemieux.

"Without him, I wouldn't be playing right now," Jagr said. "I learned everything from him. I'm still going to respect him until I die."

[newarenanow]

Good luck Jags. Hopefully we can retire his number and see him here for the ceromony. Great player.

['Guins Win!]

I don't quite believe the OMSK information.
I don't think that this is the end of the story yet.
I have read the NYR article in the past so that article
isn't really actually linked to the current news.

We'll see what happens.
TIOPS has nothing on this at all yet (and I think his info has
been pretty good the last couple of days) and there
is always information posted confirming that someone
has signed. There is nothing since around midnight
last night.

[bringitonhome]

I don't quite believe the OMSK information.
I don't think that this is the end of the story yet.
I have read the NYR article in the past so that article
isn't really actually linked to the current news.

We'll see what happens.
TIOPS has nothing on this at all yet (and I think his info has
been pretty good the last couple of days) and there
is always information posted confirming that someone
has signed. There is nothing since around midnight
last night.

thats what i thought. ive been searching all morning trying to find any other news on this. cant seem to find any. glimmer of hope for those of us who wouldnt mind seeing jags in a pens uni one more time.

[Collider]

Seriously guys, get over him. It's for your own good. I don't want to come on here in an hour when the news stations report it and see everyone in jumping-off-the-bridge mode. Gets old pretty fast.

[Digitalgypsy66]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... fer=canada

[Angle]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08186/894842-100.stm

Dave Molanari just added to the mix... He tends to not report "rumors" so this story may have some legs.

[Lesky]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=al5FBh_16lWA&refer=canada

Still only OMSKs website as source right?

[emptyfriend]

Thank GOD, it's OVER, now we can ALL move on.....

[ikiss]

Source in Omsk is reporting the deal is 10 mil. per year