Jaromir Perez aims for NHL career after idolizing Jagr

Hockey teams in Czechia rarely include Spanish in their social media posts. HC Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga is the exception.

When the club announced their promising 19-year-old forward signed a contract through April 2028, its post on X included these words: Él se queda.

He stays.

The reason: The player’s name is Jaromir Perez, and he was born in Barcelona, Spain.

“A lot of people remember me for my name,” Perez told NHL.com. “I try to show them to remember me for my game.”

He’s succeeding. Perez was a candidate to represent Czechia at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship until a back injury forced him to miss most of the first half of the season. Since returning to Liberec, he’s gained the trust of his teammates and coaches. Perez had six points during a seven-game winning streak in January and has played his way into consideration for the 2025 NHL Draft with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 31 games.

In announcing Perez’s new contract, Michal Birner, the HC Bílí Tygři Liberec sports director, said in a statement, “Thanks to his daily hard work, [Jaromír] has made tremendous progress on and off the ice in almost two years. He is a player from our academy and his continued stay at the club is all the more important and valuable to us.

“We believe that he will become one of the key building blocks for the future.”

Jaromir’s parents, Raul and Marketa, met in Spain after Marketa moved there to work and learn Spanish. After Marketa gave birth to twin boys on July 27, 2005, the couple agreed Raul would pick one name and Marketa the other.

Raul chose Diego. Marketa chose Jaromir.

Of course, Marketa was familiar with Jaromir Jagr’s on-ice heroics. However, Jaromír describes Marketa as a casual fan of hockey who simply liked the name and wasn’t preoccupied with preordaining her son’s athletic future.

Still, her prescience is impressive.

“My dad didn’t even know what ice hockey was, so it’s kind of funny,” Jaromir says, grinning. “He didn’t know how to say [my name].”

Raul, a manager for an auto parts manufacturer, and Marketa, a teacher, moved to Prague when their twins were 7 years old. Today, they preside over a full-fledged hockey family with four sons.

Simon, their oldest son, began playing the sport in Spain and now studies in Prague; Diego continues to play for a club in Prague; and 10-year-old Elias could one day follow Jaromír into pro hockey.

It all began at a small rink in Barcelona.

“I started [skating] when I was 4, because my older brother played,” Jaromir says. “We had a team in Barcelona. With my twin, we always went to his training. Whenever we could, we started playing and never stopped.”

In those years, most kids in Barcelona marveled at the wizardry of Lionel Messi at Camp Nou. To be fair, Jaromir did too. But he also wanted to be like Jagr and more recently Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak.

Now, Perez is in the same league as Jagr, who continues to play for Rytíři Kladno, the club he owns in the Extraliga. Perez has played against the 53-year-old forward on multiple occasions. He has vivid recollections of shaking hands with his idol, even though the two have yet to have an extended conversation.

For the record, Perez isn’t the only other Jaromir in the Extraliga this season; Jagr has a teammate -- Jaromir Pytlík -- with the same first name.

Perez speaks three languages fluently -- Czech, Spanish, and English -- and also knew Catalan while he lived in Barcelona. At the family home in Prague, Raúl often speaks to his sons in Spanish; Jaromir says he responds in either Spanish or Czech, depending on the situation. Jaromír tries to visit Spain once or twice per year to see his grandfather and remains a supporter of Spanish national soccer teams.

For now, Jaromir’s hockey home is Liberec, one of the northernmost cities in Czechia (Germany and Poland are only about 25 kilometers away). He’s comfortable living near the arena, enjoys the historic city center and takes day trips into the nearby forests and mountains when he has time away from the rink.

When he arrives for practice every day, Perez and his teammates review highlights of the previous night’s NHL teams. He follows Czech stars like Pastrnak and Martin Necas, as well as Jack Hughes, Auston Matthews and 4 Nations Face-Off hero Connor McDavid.

He dreams of joining them in the NHL -- and of representing Czechia on the senior national team, having done so already at the youth levels.

Perhaps one day Perez will bring back all of that experience to Spain and help the growth of hockey there.

“I’ve always thought about moving there when I’m old,” he says.

That’s a long time from now.

Jaromir Perez, a man of three languages and two countries, is just getting started.