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Jagr at 36: Saving his best for last?

After a mediocre season, he's been top Ranger in the playoffs

BY STEVE ZIPAY | steve.zipay@newsday.com

May 1, 2008

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After 17 seasons in the NHL, Jaromir Jagr says he has accepted the foibles of age and is coping in his own way - critics be damned.

The Czech superstar, in a revealing discussion, said hard work and planning during the season has raised his game for the time of year he loves: Spring.

"I'm 36, I feel like 25," said Jagr, whose 12 points and crisp, physical play have made him the best Ranger in these playoffs, which could be his last in New York after 3 1/2 seasons.

"He's playing the best hockey I've seen since I've been here," Brendan Shanahan said. "This is the Jagr we've known throughout his career. He's showing a lot of people that he's not done being a dominating player in the NHL. The way he's playing, he's got a lot of hockey left in him."

Jagr hasn't committed to playing in New York or the NHL next season, but yesterday he sounded as if he wants to give it a shot.

"When guys are getting older, you have to pick a time that's important for you," said Jagr, a free agent this summer who scored 25 goals and added 46 assists in the regular season. "Because if you're going to work very hard for 365 days a year, you're going to have to work harder than the young guys. Maybe I would be able to do it, I'm not sure. Maybe I could score 100 points and 50 goals, but nobody could tell me I would be healthy for the playoffs, when it matters most. Maybe I can still can do it, but what about if I hit the wall right now? It's for nothing."

"I knew how I was going to play [in the playoffs]," he continued. "There's going to be people who are not going to agree with me, but those are people who've never been in the situation I'm in. You have to do it night after night after night, and when you don't produce on the level they expect you to produce, you're bad. If you do, you're just what you are. There's no victory for that. You're always going to lose. When everything's on the line, I love to be on the ice and I'm not going to change."

In his post-practice remarks, Jagr referred to NHL history for perspective. "How many guys were able to play at some kind of level at my age for 80 games?" he asked. "It's not like you don't want to. I wish I could play every game like I play in the playoffs, the whole season, but it's impossible.

"People remember you on some level, and if you don't produce on that level, guys say you don't have it anymore. Look at Wayne Gretzky. Did he score 200 points at age 35? I don't think so. But he was still better than 70-80 percent of the players in the NHL."

With the Rangers on the brink of summer vacation tonight, Jagr said he wasn't concerned about his future. "I'm going to play to win the series back, not think about myself, what I'm going to do next; it's going to take care of itself."

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