Jagr: “I train mostly the same. Sometimes skate at night … My body can take a lot more than I do right now. I’ve tried to work smarter. For me, the toughest games are the first 10 to 15 games, just to get into it. When you’re old, and you have three to four months without a game, it’s brutal. I told my linemates, you have to skate for me the first 15 games. They’re young. They know.”
Q: You said a couple years ago that you’d like to play until you’re 50. Is that still realistic?
Jagr: “I know I’m going to play to 50. I know that - if I don’t get injured. I never said I’m going to play here (in the NHL) until I’m 50. That’s a different story. You can always play ’til 50. There’s a lot of guys that play until 60, you know, just beer hockey.”
Q: But what about the NHL?
Jagr: “I don’t think I could go until 50. It’s very tough.”
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Q: Why?
Jagr: “First of all, the thing is, you can see it: there’s a lot of young guys getting the green light. It’s tough to compare (young guys) to me in training camp. For the young guys, they know it’s the playoffs for them. They’re getting ready the month before training camp. They have to make it. They have to play the best hockey in training camp. For older guys, you want to play the best hockey in playoffs. It’s a totally different mentality. A lot of times, the younger guys look a lot better than older guys in the training camp. It’s a misunderstanding. There’s no way you can peak then, and play a top game for 9 months. It doesn’t work like that.”
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