Jaromir Jagr has done it all. He’s one of hockey’s biggest icons, and no one compares to him when it comes to loving the game and never giving up. Jagr played his first game in the NHL in the early 90s, and in his first year, he won the Stanley Cup. Jagr still plays pro hockey in Kladno in Czechia, where he’s also the owner.
He refuses to give up on the sport he’s always loved. Jagr is a cult hero for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he also played with six other teams. Some years were more successful than others, but even if Jagr didn’t play his best, he contributed with experience and professionalism.
Jaromir Jagr’s last NHL contract was with the Calgary Flames. He was 45 years of age at the moment, and it only lasted for a half-season. Jagr scored only one goal and seven points in 22 games, but he had a lasting impact in the Flames’ locker room.
Jagr was always the first player to practice, and he even got a key to the locker room, so he could come in to practice whenever he felt like it. And it happened. Often.
“He’s a rock star, for sure,” said Mark DePasquale, equipment manager at the Flames.
”The first thing he asked for right away was a key to the locker room because, as someone who only slept four hours at a time, he’d come to the rink at weird hours.
“He had that approved from upstairs – no other player has ever gotten that.”
DePasquale remembers one when he got to the rink a late evening.
“I came in with my son to get caught up on some stuff at 10 p.m. one night and I go out to the ice and Jags is already out there, and he’s putting my son through drills.
“My son was 12 and doesn’t know who Jags is, so he’s like, ‘Dad, who is this old guy putting me through drills? I just came to shoot some pucks and have some fun.’
“He didn’t understand it was Jags trying to help him get better.”
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