Jaromir Jagr’s long-deserved moment in the sun with the Penguins is finally nearing.
The Penguins announced Friday afternoon the two-time Stanley Cup champion will have his No. 68 retired this season. Jagr’s jersey will rise to the rafters on Feb. 18, 2024, as part of a pregame ceremony when the Penguins host the Los Angeles Kings.
Jagr, who has been majority owner of Rytiri Kladno of Czech Extraliga in his home country since the 2011-12 season, was first approached by Penguins brass about the idea to have his sweater retired a few years back, not long after he retired from the NHL in 2018. Jagr also met with Penguins president of business operations Kevin Acklin earlier this year.
Phil Bourque, a SportsNet Pittsburgh color commentator for Penguins games and former teammate of his, said Jagr was interested in the idea, especially so once his responsibilities with Kladno started to die down.
“I think when that seed was planted, multiple people started to reach out to him and let him know how loved he is in the city and I think that shocked him,” Bourque told the Post-Gazette. “So I think he had time to marinate on the thoughts of people that he trusted within the organization, with the words of, ‘You’re loved here.’ ”
Though Jagr ranks in the top five in franchise history in games played, goals, assists, points, plus/minus and game-winning goals, his history with the Penguins is a bit of a complicated one.
Jagr’s journey began when the Penguins selected him fifth overall in the 1990 NHL draft. Over his ensuing 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, Jagr racked up 439 goals and 1,079 points in addition to the pair of Stanley Cup titles.
Teammates like Jay Caufield can easily recall what allowed a young Jagr to stand out as one of the league’s best during the early part of his career.
“The years that I was with him, nothing but a dominating force,” Caufield said. “When he got the puck on his stick — even as a young man, young kid — very difficult. Some of the best defenders in the world couldn’t free him from the puck.”
Kevin Stevens, another former teammate, took things a step further when describing Jagr’s puck-possession abilities, relating them to that of Mario Lemieux.
“Him and Mario, they’re the two strongest guys on the puck in the game — ever,” Stevens said. “You could never take the puck away from one of those guys.”
Jagr certainly enjoyed the best pro seasons of his career with the Penguins, too, winning all five of his Art Ross Trophies, as well as his sole Hart Trophy as league MVP. But in 2001, at 29 years of age, Jagr was traded away in the prime of his career to the Washington Capitals as the Penguins struggled with financial issues.
He’d return to Pittsburgh numerous times over the rest of his NHL career that spanned 24 seasons, including for rival teams such as the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. When Jagr would venture back to where his NHL career began, he was often welcomed with choruses of boos. Bourque insists the reception was because Jagr was still a dangerous player for the opposition.
“We knew that [he] could hurt us. So it wasn't a personal thing,” Bourque said of the boos. “It was more in the context of sports.”
Even so, Jagr angered some fans in Pittsburgh when he signed a one-year deal with the Flyers rather than Penguins upon returning to the NHL in 2011 following a three-season stint with Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia.
With enough time and coordination, though, Jagr’s moment for being honored by the Penguins is finally dawning. For all the sweaters he’s worn in a career noteworthy as any for its longevity, there’s one that rings true to those who know him best.
“At the end of the day, everybody thinks of him in a Penguin jersey and he's going to be right up there next to 66,” Bourque said, referring to Lemeiux’s sweater number. “I mean, I get goosebumps just talking about it.”
Like Bourque, Stevens is glad that even if Jagr’s time in Pittsburgh wasn’t written up like a Hollywood script, his achievements will get their deserved recognition.
“Do you wish it ended better? Yeah, obviously, it would have been easier,” Stevens said. “But it doesn’t take away from the domination, of what he did on the ice and how he brought Stanley Cups to Pittsburgh and was a big part of all of them.
“He was an amazing player and he deserves to have his number retired. No one else should wear that number in Pittsburgh.”
Jagr will join a short list at PPG Paints Arena in having his jersey hanging. Other than Lemieux, the only other sweater up in the rafters is the late Michel Briere’s No. 21. Briere died roughly a year after a car accident near his hometown of Malartic in Quebec, Canada.
For Bryan Trottier, who still lives in Pittsburgh after spending the twilight of his career with the Penguins, having Jagr join the likes of Lemieux and Briere in the rafters is both deserved and long overdue.
“It's an opportunity for the Penguins, the fans of Pittsburgh and all of us who love him to show our love and appreciation,” Trottier said. “I think that's the biggest thing. I mean, I love him like a brother. So, for me, to share that atmosphere with Jaromir will be an extremely, extremely wonderful moment in my life.”
Jagr’s certainly come a long way from the teenager who spoke broken English; Stevens still remembers Jagr sitting by himself at his locker, struggling to figure out how to adapt to life in the United States.
But as Stevens and others note, Jagr was a willing learner. It’s a quality that in part allowed him to have an NHL career that stretched across three decades and stands as the fourth-longest in league history.
“You can’t go that long and be that good without always working on your trade and finding, ‘What do you think you’re deficient at? What do you think you need to work to get better at?’ ” Caufield said. “He consistently, continuously did it.”
Even with a career longer than practically any other player who’s ever graced the ice for an NHL game, Jagr’s journey has no choice but to finally come full circle when he ventures back to Pittsburgh in February.
Bourque expects an outpouring of emotions from Jagr — and perhaps some words many fans have never before heard from him on how he feels about the Penguins and Pittsburgh. Trottier hopes fans will fall in love with Jagr, now 51, the same as they did when he was just an 18-year-old.
In a few months, Jagr will gain closure on a night that has many former teammates bubbling with excitement on his — and the city’s — behalf.
“This is something that's going to be for the ages, that people will talk about for years and years,” Bourque said. “It's going to be the hottest ticket in town, I think, the hottest ticket that's ever been for PPG Paints Arena.
“It's going to be one of the most memorable nights not only in Pittsburgh sports history but in the history of the city.”
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1
First Published: November 10, 2023, 6:18 p.m.
