Celebrate 68: Looking at Jaromir Jagr’s Legacy

On March 31, 1990, the Pittsburgh Penguins fell to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime on a goal from Uwe Krupp in their final game of the regular season.

If the Penguins had just kept the game tied, they would have made the playoffs. Instead, they missed the postseason for the fifth time in six years.

Of course, that stung in the moment … but as Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Lange said, “I don’t think Penguins fans even realize it today, but that was the best loss ever. It allowed the Penguins to draft at the No. 5 position that summer … and (Pittsburgh general manager) Craig Patrick went out and picked up Jaromir Jagr.

“He was fit, strong as an ox, weighed 240 pounds, and was built to play hockey.”

The Kladno, Czechia native became one of the most accomplished players in NHL history. He ranks fourth all-time in games played (1,733) and goals (766), fifth in assists (1,155), and only Wayne Gretzky (2,857) has recorded more points than Jagr (1,921).

“He was probably the best player in the draft. As we can see, he’s had a very long career, a very successful career. A great Hall of Famer,” Mario Lemieux said.

Jagr was an instrumental piece of Pittsburgh’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and ’92, his first two seasons in the NHL. Jagr later helped save the franchise from bankruptcy and keep the team in Pittsburgh with his character performance in the first round of the 1999 playoffs while battling through a severe groin injury.

Overall, Jagr spent the first 11 seasons of his 24-year NHL career with the Penguins, winning five scoring titles and one league MVP award during his time in Pittsburgh, where he appeared in 806 regular-season games and picked up 1,079 points.

Jagr is one of the all-time greatest to don black and gold, and now, his No. 68 jersey is finally being raised to the rafters at PPG Paints Arena alongside Lemieux’s No. 66 and Michel Briere’s No. 21.

“I just think, number one, it’s time that we had this type of ceremony,” said Penguins color analyst Phil Bourque, who played a key role in facilitating the ‘Celebrate 68’ festivities. “Especially in the new building here where we’ve had some great moments, but we haven’t had this kind of ceremony in a long, long time in this city, for this team.

“And number two, even though he played for a bunch of other teams, everybody remembers Jaromir Jagr for what he did as a Pittsburgh Penguin.”

When Bourque and some of Jagr’s other former teammates – Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens, Bryan Trottier, and Rick Tocchet – thought back on the impact he had on this franchise, his persona is what first came to mind. They all mentioned Jagr’s long hair styled into that famous mullet, and the huge grin always stretched across his face.

“He's a fun-loving guy, so, everybody kind of bought into that charisma he had. But he didn’t have the talent on the ice, the charisma’s not there,” Stevens said. “You can be a good-looking guy, whatever – but if you don't have any talent, no one really cares, you know? He had that talent. We had a lot of good players in between Mario and Jaromir, but you could see Jaromir was going to be the next charisma-type of a guy like Mario was. Like, just dominate the hockey world in Pittsburgh. You could see Jaromir was going to be the next superstar.”

While Jagr was thrilled to be here, adjusting to his new life in a new country, especially as a young kid, wasn’t easy. “As a first-round pick, it was just kind of feet to the fire,” Bourque said. “He was thrust in and expected to help get this team to the next level. It was some growing pains on and off the ice, I think he’ll admit that. But because he was able to overcome those and come out the other side, I think it made him a better person and a better player.”

A few months later, a teenaged Jagr was lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time – something he would go on to do again the following June. Jagr shined particularly bright during the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, recording a playoff career-high 24 points (11G-13A) in 21 games, stepping up when Lemieux went down after the infamous Adam Graves slash in the second round against the New York Rangers.

“Nobody said anything to Jags. He just took it upon himself that Mario’s down, now it's my time. That's the maturity that, as a 20-year-old, you wouldn’t expect,” Bourque said. “He just did it, and we jumped on that bandwagon the way we jumped on Mario’s bandwagon when he would take over games, take over series. Jags did the same thing. It was unexpected, and I can remember clearly being on the bench and going, ‘holy moly, giddy up, let's go, because 68’s going tonight.”

One of Jagr’s most iconic goals came in Game 1 of that year’s Final against Chicago, which tied the game with less than five minutes to go. It stands out to Stevens because, as he put it, the Penguins, in a second straight deep run, were tired and just not playing great. They needed someone to put them on their back, and Jagr did.

“He’s one of the best pressure players I've ever played with,” Tocchet added. “Being able to sit across him going on the ice knowing that when the pressure hits this team, this guy will be there for you, like, this guy will make the right play, this guy will do something incredible under pressure – that’s the best teammate.”

And it wasn’t just the timing of the goal – it was the goal itself.

“He undresses every single player on the ice inside out and upside down, and then sends that backhand five-hole on Eddie Belfour. I’ve probably seen it 200 times - I could watch it another 200 and never get tired of it,” Bourque said.

“To me, that exemplifies not just the skill, but the balance, the agility,” Trottier said. “The feints, the dekes, the dives, and he never lost possession of the puck. He looked so smooth during the whole thing, and he rag-dolled everybody. It was wonderful. That's my favorite goal ever.”

Lemieux called it the greatest goal he’d ever seen, and a few days later – after the Penguins swept the Blackhawks – he and Jagr posed for the legendary photo of them standing back-to-back with the Stanley Cup between them.

Jagr was good at protecting the puck right from the start, because of how big and strong he was. “He was unique in that regard. I say, think Sidney Crosby, only bigger,” said Paul Steigerwald, who’s worked for the Penguins in different capacities since the 1980s. But Jagr still had a lot of learning to do when it came to honing his incredible talents, so in those early years, he played in a somewhat more sheltered role, learning as much as he could from the veterans around him.

“What I always admired about him was not so much how talented he was, but he was a real good student of the game. He had a great mind for the game,” Francis said.

As his career went along, Jagr became a star in his own right with seemingly unlimited potential, capturing his first Art Ross Trophy in 1993, and some high praise from his idol.

“I can remember Mario relaying a conversation to me that he’d had with (his wife) Nathalie, discussing that Jagr had actually become a better player,” Steigerwald said.

After Lemieux’s first retirement in 1997, which came after his body simply had enough after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease and dealing with debilitating back issues, Jagr became the face of the team – which was facing financial problems off the ice.

“He kept the Penguins from fading into ignominy, because we were financially strapped as the 90s moved along – and if not for Jagr, we wouldn't have been able to maintain that image as this awesome offensive force that we established ourselves as in the early 90s,” Steigerwald said.

“Because of that, he also was a gate attraction. We were able to maintain having the best player in the world and being relevant. Even if we weren't winning championships and that kind of thing, we were still a force to be reckoned with, and he was the centerpiece of that.”

The Penguins declared bankruptcy in October of 1998, and that spring, they managed to sneak into the playoffs as an eighth seed – drawing a matchup with a New Jersey team backstopped by Martin Brodeur in the first round. The Penguins didn’t just want to win, they needed to win, and advance to the second round to get more money to help cover their debts.

As if that wasn’t enough pressure, the underdog Penguins were dealt a huge blow when Jagr got injured in Game 1, pulling his groin. Pittsburgh radio personality Mark Madden remembers that Jagr’s entire leg seemed like it was bruised, and that it was apparent just looking at him how badly he was hurt. But the Penguins went down 3-2 in the series, so Jagr had to play, saying he had nothing to lose.

“I struggled for a few periods, and I scored a goal with two minutes to go and tied it 2-2. Marty Straka made a great play and passed it to me across, and I had the one-timer and we won 3-2 in overtime,” Jagr said in his interview for the ‘Pittsburgh is Home’ 50^th-anniversary documentary. “Then we beat them in New Jersey (in Game 7) and we went to the second round, and we make the money from the fans and everything, so the Pittsburgh Penguins stayed in Pittsburgh.

“It was probably the biggest game I’ve played ever in Pittsburgh, and even in my hockey career, I don’t think I’ve played in anything bigger. Of course, if you play in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s huge. But to play a game where you have to win or the franchise is going to move, you know, it’s a pretty big game.”

Jagr went from being that fun-loving kid to a leader who understood the responsibility on his shoulders, and handled it incredibly well. “He came here as an 18-year-old; he learned the character part of the game from the guys we had in the early 90s, and he became a character player,” Patrick said.

While Jagr played a huge part in keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh, they were still facing financial issues, and had to start offloading contracts as a result. As Jagr dealt with the burden of that, he was dealing with his own off-ice issues. The weight of all that caused Jagr to lose some of the zeal for the game that has since come to define him, spurring his longevity.

“If the Penguins had been more able to remain competitive around him, it would have really lifted his spirits and made him more dedicated to the game. But I think it just became too much for him to handle,” Steigerwald said.

Eventually, the Penguins had to divest themselves of Jagr’s contract as well, trading him to Washington in 2001. He didn’t always receive the warmest reception any time he came back to Pittsburgh while still playing in the NHL for the likes of the Capitals, Rangers, Stars, Bruins, Devils, Panthers, and Flames.

But that never influenced how Jagr felt about his time with the Penguins. And now, the city is ecstatic about having the chance to give Jagr a proper welcome home.

“I think it’s just something to really rally around, and just feel good about the moment and the person and the Pittsburgh Penguin that he was,” Bourque said.