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11/19/1997 04:57 EST Penguins Star Wants To Stay By ALAN ROBINSON CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Jaromir Jagr misses the end-to-end rushes, the gambling offense, the precise passes from Mario Lemieux. Clearly, the Pittsburgh Penguins are a changed team under new coach Kevin Constantine. Jagr insists that doesn't mean he wants to change teams. The Penguins star issued an angry rebuttal Tuesday to published reports that he missed the last two games not because of injury, but out of anger and frustration with Constantine's system. He also denied he no longer wants to play for the team he helped win Stanley Cup championships in 1990 and 1991. ``I've always wanted to play. I don't know why they want to write something like that,'' Jagr, 25, said after being the last man off the ice following a 90-minute practice. Jagr not only denied a Toronto Sun article that he wants out of Pittsburgh, he said he expects to sign a new contract within a week. The deal would likely be for seven years and at least $50 million. ``I've always said I want to play my entire career here,'' he said. ``I still feel like I've got 15 years left to play.'' Jagr will miss at least two more games to let his hip injury heal, including tonight's ceremony to retire Lemieux's jersey number, but Jagr said it is only because the team suggested he do so. ``Everybody should know that if I'm healthy, and I don't even have to be 100 percent healthy, I just want to play,'' said Jagr, the 1994-95 NHL scoring champion. But denials aside, Jagr clearly has not yet settled into Constantine's neutral zone trap-like system, which stresses that disciplined defense is necessary to create scoring chances. Jagr has seven goals and 14 assists in 20 games, numbers that are down slightly from his career total of 633 points in 504 games. ``He likes to play defense, I like to play offense, but it's a long season, and I think after 40-50 games he might relax the system and maybe give me more freedom to play offense,'' Jagr said of Constantine. ``The system is different than what I played before, when Mario was here, but I understand from the other side that's the system we've got to play right now if we're going to be successful.'' The system actually creates more good shots than the Penguins' former run-and-gun style, Constantine said. ``We, as a team, have tried to have some structure and discipline, but within that framework there's still room for every player to let the things he does well individually show and shine,'' Constantine said. However, Lemieux, who was inducted Monday into the Hockey Hall of Fame, is glad he never played such a regimented style. ``It's not much fun for the players, and not much fun for me to watch,'' said Lemieux, who has viewed about five or six Penguins games. Jagr also was troubled with suggestions he no longer wants an older, slower Ron Francis to center the Penguins' top line. The 34-year-old Francis leads the Penguins with eight goals and 15 assists in 22 games. ``I've played with him for six years and everybody knows how much I love to play with him,'' Jagr said. Francis shrugged off the story, saying Jagr called him before practice to explain he never made the comment. ``He was upset by it,'' Francis said. ``It's unfortunate it happened, but we laughed and joked about it.'' Jagr dismissed suggestions he is displeased Lemieux is making $7 million in deferred compensation, thereby lessening the money available for other players and possibly affecting the franchise's long-term stability. ``What Mario makes doesn't affect me,'' Jagr said. ``I think he should make a lot more than $7 million, even if he doesn't play, for what he did for the team.''
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