Two-time Stanley Cup winner Jaromir Jagr says the 2024-2025 season will be the last of his career at age 52.
Jagr, who began playing professionally in former Czechoslovakia in 1988, will play his 36th season for the same club he started at, Rytiri Kladno in the Czech Extraliga.
After playing in the NHL from 1990-2018, Jagr moved back to the Czech Republic and played for Kladno for another five years. He is also the majority owner of that team, taking over from his father of the same name in 2011.
Then, in late 2022, Jagr was seemingly retired until his team was struck with an illness that took it down to just 12 players. Jagr decided to step out of the owner’s box and lace up to avoid his team having to forfeit any games, and he ended up playing 26 games that season. He finished 2022-2023 with 14 points at age 50.
Adding to his legendary status, coming out of retirement actually delayed Jagr’s eligibility to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Despite already being a member of the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame since 2008 and the IIHF Hall of Fame since 2024, Jagr pushed back his eligibility for the more prestigious honor in order to rescue his team.
At 52, Jagr has announced it will be his last season, surpassing Gordie Howe as the oldest professional hockey player of all time. Howe was 52 years, 11 days old when he played his final NHL game in 1980.
Jagr’s legend has only seemed to grow the older he gets.
In 2015, Jagr was reportedly the victim of a blackmail attempt after he was pictured in a bed sleeping next to a young Czech model. As Yahoo Sports reported, a social media user found the photo and attempted to extort 50,000 crowns ($2,000 USD) from the hockey player. Jagr allegedly told the person to do whatever they wanted with the photo because he didn’t care.
‘I’m going to try to deceive age and find out how I’m doing.’
Then in March 2024, Jagr was set to make an appearance in Pittsburgh where his jersey was set to be retired. Ahead of the appearance, 18,000 bobbleheads featuring Jagr’s likeness were stolen from a loading bay in California.
The Pittsburgh Penguins confirmed at the time that the bobbleheads were indeed stolen, and it was not a publicity stunt.
However, Jagr immediately turned the heist into a hilarious marketing campaign where he went on a mission to rescue his figurines.
Jagr has the second-most points in NHL history with 1,921, and the fourth-most goals scored with 766. He played for nine different teams over 24 years in North America.
In 2015-2016, Jagr scored a shocking 27 goals and added 39 assists for the Florida Panthers at 44 years old.
He had another 16 goals the next year at 45.
The owner has continuously poked fun at himself while continuing to play at a high level.
“I’m going to try to deceive age and find out how I’m doing,” he wrote on Instagram.
Jagr’s final season kicks off September 18.
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Fearless, Hockey, Nhl, Sports
