Panther prep
All-Star mainstays ready for camp.
Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr has his photo taken in the team’s new uniforms during media day at BB&T Center in Sunrise
SUNRISE — It seemed fitting that two of the first Florida Panthers to complete their physicals Thursday morning at BB&T Centerwere two of their oldest and arguably most valuable All-Star players, Roberto Luongo and Jaromir Jagr.
Luongo sported a bushy playoff-like beard with gray specks, and said hewas too lazy to shave this summer. Instead, the 37-year-old focused on shaving two months off the projected recovery time from hip surgery onMay 3 so that he could be medically cleared to play without limitations at the team’s first practice Friday at the IceDen.
“I wasn’t sure how it was going to go the first day of training camp, but I’m excited to be here with a clean bill of health,’’ saidLuongo, whose 35 victories last season were his most since 2010-11 with Vancouver. “It was about 3-4 hours every weekday during the whole summer, so it was a lot ofwork.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever been through it, so it’s some- thing I took seriously, Especially when you’re a little bit older, you got to put in a little more work into it to make sure everything goes as planned.’’
Luongo said he spent so many hourswalking in place in
his backyard swimming pool at his Park land home that he actually “made a hole’’ in the Diamond Brite bottom.
A thinner, 44-year-old Jagr strolled into the media roome ating a glazed doughnut and displaying gray streaks inhis flowing mullet. Entering his 23rd NHL season on his sixth consecutive one-year contract, the fitness fanatic and oldest player ever to lead his team in points (66), said he was excited to keep proving the nay sayers wrong.
“Of course, if not, I wouldn’t be here,’’ said Jagr, the NHL’s third all-time leader in goals and points. “It’s kind of tough to do any job if you’re not excited about it, if you’re not happy about it. Go to work and be miserable, you can’t help anybody, and nobody can help you.
“Just people’s opinion,’’ Jagr added. “They paint their stuff how they feel, so they think everybody’s supposed to feel the same way. Everybody’s different; everybody has different motivation, different bodies. You have to knowwhat kind of body you got and work fromthat.’’
In that respect, Jagr recognized that the Panthers and NHL in general are shifting toward a fasterpaced game prioritizing speed over strength. That could explain why his 6-foot-3 frame appeared much lighter than his listed weight of 230 pounds.
“You have to improve, because the league is getting
better,’’ Jagr said. “I always say if you don’t adjust, you’re going to die. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in sports, in your life.
“Twenty years ago you didn’t have to be very quick; you just had to be strong.’’
While Luongo thirsts for at least one sip out of the Stanley Cup, Jagr is obsessed by his love of the game. Both are also still fueled by the Panthers’ sudden-death elimination in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series with the Islanders. They know they’re running out of tomorrows.
“I’m still up sest we lost in the first round,’’ said Luongo, who was 15th in the MVP vote last year, while Jagr was seventh. “We should’ve won that series, but for one reason or another we didn’t. It’s motivation for our club. … We’re ready to take the next step.
Instead of his customary routine of working out in Las Vegas over the summer, Jagr spent the past few months home in Kladno, Czech Republic, to be with his 76-year-old father while he recovered from back and heart surgeries.
Jagr, a man of routine, was surprised by the many personnel moves, but was more perplexed by the change of trainers and equipment managers. Still, he intends to improve on his 27-goal season.
“You can always get better even if you’re older because you know what you need,’’ he said. “Even if you finish first, you have to be better, because you know the competition is going to be better. Our goal again is step by step to make the playoffs.’’