At the age of 44, Jaromír Jágr, a monument of hockey, has become the third highest scorer in the history of the NHL, the famous North American hockey league. A legendary career, and countless records, but there is still time before he calls it a day
The number 68 on his back and a burning desire to keep fighting on the ice. On February 20, five days after his 44th birthday, Jaromír Jágr became the protagonist of a new page in the history of hockey. The right winger, overtook the hockey legend of Brett Hull in the All-Time scoring tables of the National Hockey League, having reached a total of 742 goals, thanks to the two goals scored against the Winnipeg Jets. A historical event when you consider that this achievement projects the Czech player onto the podium of the most prolific hockey players in the NHL, climbing temporarily to third place. Grit, character, and the tenacity of a kid. Having reached the age of 44, Jágr still seems to have the competitive hunger of a twenty-year-old.
The first page of this fairytale was written on February 15, 1972 in Kladno, Central Bohemia, when little Jaromír came into existence. The city, in addition to being known for steel mills, is also known for its “knights”, the players of the Rytíři hockey team of Kladno. Among the knights, the little warrior Jaromír Jágr, was the stand-out, and after having shone in the youth team, made his debut in the Extraliga (the top league in the former Czechoslovakia), having barely reached the age of 16. The youngster immediately proved he was able to stay in the league thanks to two fundamental qualities, talent and character, enabling him to permanently enter the first team. With a powerful physique and a larger than life personality, it was the year 1990 when despite being only 18, Jágr landed in the NHL to represent the Pittsburgh Penguins. The young hockey player entered the history of his country as the first Czech to play in the top American league, considered “the league of excellence” in which everyone dreamed of playing in the course of their career.
After a period of working his way up in the ranks of the club hierarchy due to fierce competition, Jágr slowly found himself in the good graces of his coach and fans, before returning in the 1994/1995 ‘lock-out’ season to wear the shirt of his beloved HC Kladno, the team which to whom he remains perpetually bound, and which today he owns. A transition year, in which Jágr was forced to return to Europe because of the contract dispute between players and clubs that froze the American championship. In the Czech Republic however, his good form would not cease for a moment. His exuberance led him to live new experiences around Europe and it was in 1994 when he arrived in Italy to play with Hockey Club Bolzano, a team boasting many titles, with whom he won the 6 Nations Tournament, before flying to Germany to play for EHC Schalke, where he only collected one appearance. Wherever he has been, the number 68 has always been displayed on his back, and one of the most curious notes of Jágr’s career is indeed the shirt number that he wears in all professional experiences. The 68 represents the year of the ‘Prague Spring’ and Jágr chose to wear it as a tribute to his grandfather, who died in the very year of that event, one so significant for the history of his country. The period of peregrination in Europe ended in Teutonic land, before he returned to play for the Penguins, where he was paired with another excessively good player, the Canadian Mario Lemieux. Between the two was also a lot of rivalry, with each one aspiring to outshine the other. The short-lived antagonism, lasted only until 2001, when the Penguins were forced to sacrifice Jágr because of financial problems that devastated the club. With 806 games played and over 1000 points scored, the Czech’s adventure in Pennsylvania came to an end, when he moved to Washington to join the ranks of the Capitals signing the most lucrative contract in history at that point: 77 million dollars for 7 years. His adventure in the US capital was not a fortunate one, with two seasons with little success. Then the transfer became frequent, with Jágr wearing the jerseys of a long series of US teams: New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils before joining his current team, the Florida Panthers. Meanwhile, during new ‘lock-outs’, Jaromír Jágr never misses an opportunity to return home, to play in the colours of HC Kladno.
A globetrotter and with a huge desire for new experiences, Jágr also did not turn down the opportunity to wear the shirt of Avangard Omsk, a Siberian team in the Russian league. Here he competed in three high-level seasons, where he won the Continental Cup before heading back overseas.
In short, Jaromír has come a long way since October 7, 1990, the date of his first goal in the NHL! It was in a normal weekend of the 2015/2016 season when the historic goals arrived. The large kid, exuberant in nature, with a precise left-handed shot, entered the annals with a brace that allowed his teammates to beat the Winnipeg Jets, and him to overtake Brett Hull’s total of 741 NHL goals, moving ahead of him by a goal. Yet that is not all: the two goals allowed him to equal career bests of Brendan Shanahan and Dave Andreychuk when he reached his nineteenth season in NHL with 20 goals, yet another record from a player who never ceases to amaze.
His awards and honours speak for themselves, he has won 10 individual awards in his career, while at the same time he has been a key player for the Czech national team with whom he won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and the World Hockey Championships in 2005 in Vienna, and again in 2010 in Cologne, besides also being the XXI Olympic Winter Games flag-bearer for them in Vancouver, Canada. Since 2005 Jágr has joined the Triple Gold Club, which is the circle of players or coaches who over the course of their career, have won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, and World Cup, as well as the Stanley Cup, the trophy awarded to the winners of the NHL that Jágr brought home with the Penguins.
A lifestyle based on taking everything lightly; for a good example it is enough to remember an episode a while back, when he recovered from a forceful blow that made him lose four teeth. Jagr did not lose his calm, nor did he allow the pain to get the better of him. Once the game finished, he didn’t stop smiling and joked “this year I’ll have to ask Santa to bring me new teeth”.
Despite such great career, not even this new record has convinced Jaromír Jágr to call it a day. His rebellious, youthful spirit still blesses him with the same enthusiasm he had in his early days. The goal is now to reach second place in the table, even if the target appears as a mirage: the “All-Time” NHL top scorer table is headed by Wayne Gretzky with 894, with Gordie Howe in second place 59 goals ahead. Objectively, the figures seem out of reach, although Jágr is used to huge challenges, and perhaps would like to continue to amaze us.
by Alessandro De Felice
