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Former NHL MVP Jaromir Jagr is returning to the NHL next season after three years playing in Russia, and he says he took less money to play for the Philadelphia Flyers because he likes their chances to get to the Stanley Cup and because their two best power play forwards are righthanded. He hopes there’s no hard feelings in Pittsburgh, where fans hoped he’d return to the Penguins.

Jagr is now 39 but is still best known as the long-haired sidekick to Mario Lemieux. He signed a one-year, $3.3 million deal with the Flyers last Friday.

“I like to play power play on the right side, and I think because [Flyers centers Danny Briere and Claude Giroux are] righthanded, they like to play on the other side,” Jagr explained. “I think it would be a problem if I would play in Pittsburgh with [Sidney] Crosby or [Evgeni] Malkin, lefthanded, and have to play on the other side, when I’ve played all my life on the right side. I don’t think I would be able to play there. Or if I go to Detroit, with [Pavel] Datsyuk and [Henrik] Zetterberg, they’re lefthanded and they play on the boards where I used to play at.”

Jagr had this message for the Penguins and their fans:

I didn’t promise anybody anything, that I was going back. The Penguins seemed like I did something wrong or something bad, and I don’t think I did something bad. If they feel like that, I cannot change their minds. I was a free agent, and I had my chance to pick wherever I think is best for me. I have the option to pick. If I hurt somebody, I apologize, I didn’t mean it, but this is my life and I want to make the choice.