Jagr, Jaromir

▪ Czech athlete

born Feb. 15, 1972, Kladno, Czech. [now in Czech Republic]

 

 Czech professional ice hockey player who was one of the most prolific point scorers in National Hockey League (NHL) history. Jagr won two Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins (1991 and 1992).

      Jagr demonstrated his talent for hockey early in life and played professionally in his native Czechoslovakia at age 15. He became the first Czechoslovakian to declare for the NHL draft with his government's blessing, and he was chosen by the Penguins as the fifth overall selection in 1990. Jagr made an immediate impact on the Penguins, scoring 27 goals in the 1990–91 season while contributing to the franchise's first Stanley Cup victory. Jagr was named to the NHL All-Star team during the 1991–92 season (the first of his nine career All-Star selections), and the Penguins repeated as NHL champions that year. When his star teammate Mario Lemieux (Lemieux, Mario) missed the 1994–95 season, Jagr stepped into the Penguins' offensive void and led the league in scoring. He continued to play a prominent role in the team's offense when Lemieux returned the following season, and Jagr went on to take the league scoring title in four consecutive seasons (1997–98 to 2000–01). Jagr frequently returned to his homeland to play for the Czech national team during the NHL off-season, and he was a member of the Czech Republic squad that won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.

      In 1998 Jagr signed a then-record $48 million, six-year contract with the Penguins. While he continued to put up impressive statistics and was named the NHL's most valuable player for the 1998–99 season, his massive contract became a burden for the financially strapped Penguin franchise, and they traded him to the Washington Capitals in 2001. His production declined in each of his seasons with Washington—though he was still named to the All-Star team each year—and he was traded to the New York Rangers midway through the 2003–04 season. He finished second in the league in both goals and points during the 2005–06 season, and the Rangers made the play-offs in each of his three full seasons with the team. Jagr became a free agent at the end of the 2007–08 season, and he signed with Avangard Omsk of the Continental Hockey League in Russia. At the time of his signing, he was ninth on the NHL's career points list, with 1,599.

Adam Augustyn

 

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