CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PA. — When Jaromir Jagr declared his intention for an NHL return in May 2011, Pittsburgh Penguins fans fantasized about him playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
That never happened. On Saturday, we finally got a glimpse of what might have been.
Jagr joined Crosby, Malkin and current Penguins players and coaches for practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex — a surreal moment in Jagr’s official reunion with his original NHL franchise as the former superstar prepares to see his famous No. 68 retired in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
“When you look at the history of hockey, he’s somebody you’re always going to think about,” Crosby said of Jagr, who was temporarily assigned the dressing-room stall to the current captain’s left.
“The fact that he played here and had the impact he did here … it’s incredible. I think we all feel pretty fortunate to be a part of this. You don’t know when you’re going to have opportunities like this. There’s a lot of pride that comes with playing for this team for a lot of reasons, and he’s one of them.”
Sidney Crosby has a new dressing-room neighbor: @68Jagr One @penguins captain discussing another … pic.twitter.com/bAGgYI2Y7r — Rob Rossi (@Real_RobRossi) February 17, 2024
The stands were crammed with fans, many wearing old Jagr Penguins jerseys. Gobsmacked adults attempted to explain to children what the fuss was about.
Jagr was among the last to take the ice to various chants: “Welcome home, Jags!,” “We love you, Jagr!,” and “One more shift!”
As Jagr took some light laps before drills, Malkin, kneeling near the boards, waved away a nearby teammate who blocked his view. Malkin beamed as his eyes followed “one of my heroes.” Jagr skated a lap with Kris Letang, who sported a mullet wig to honor Jagr’s famous hairstyle in the 1990s. As they slowed down, Jagr smiled noticeably, pulled Letang close and patted his helmet. A picture for the ages unfolded as Jagr and Crosby appeared to whisper to one another while waiting their turn to touch the puck — two living legends, speaking the language of hockey gods.
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Letang wore Jagr’s No. 68 in youth hockey. Jagr was one of his favorite players, and the Penguins were his favorite team. Letang asked Jagr if he would sign a special jersey the Penguins will wear for warmups against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
Jagr’s passion for hockey was a big takeaway for Crosby, Malkin and Letang — known affectionately in Pittsburgh as “The Big Three.”
“He was sitting down, him and Sid were just chatting about hockey,” Letang said of Jagr’s interaction with players before practice Saturday. “The first thing he said when he came in was, ‘I came in to see this guy (Crosby) — he keeps getting better with age.’”
Crosby described his on- and off-ice chats with Jagr as “just talking shop.”
“Talking hockey, anything really,” Crosby said. “The game. The equipment. What he’s going to do here while he’s here.”
Current players were coy about any plans they had to honor Jagr before or during the Penguins’ game against the Kings. More mullet wigs? Jerseys tucked in? A salute?
All were hallmarks of Jagr’s tenure in Pittsburgh.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll see a couple things go on,” Letang said, teasing.
Only one thing to do when @68Jagr comes to town 🫡 pic.twitter.com/LrucNSzma4 — Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 17, 2024
Jagr was cheered loudly at all times, as if the calendar in Western Pennsylvania had turned backward to the 1990s. When he scored a goal, one fan screamed, “You still got it.”
“He not skate much, a couple drills,” said Malkin, who described Jagr as one of his childhood idols, “but he looked great: Nice speed, stickhandle. And his shot probably, like, 100 miles (per hour). Really strong guy.”
After the practice, Penguins players, coaches and staff posed for a picture with Jagr.
Coach Mike Sullivan asked Jagr on Friday how involved he wanted to be. Jagr was unsure, doubting “(he) could hang.” Sullivan pressed ahead, even pushing Jagr to participate in power-play drills.
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Given the Penguins’ power-play struggles this season — their star-studded top unit has been broken up as their percentage continues to rank in the bottom five — there is an open joke among those around the team that even at this stage of his life Jagr would become the Penguins’ most dangerous man-advantage weapon.
“We had a chance to sign him,” Malkin said, referring to the missed connection during the 2011 offseason. “But he can’t play, like, third, fourth line.
“Now we’re older team. Maybe now it’s time.”
Jagr won five Art Ross Trophies, a Hart Trophy and played a pivotal role on the Penguins’ 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup championship teams. Over 30 former teammates, coaches and Penguins personnel — including Jagr’s professed idol, Mario Lemieux — are expected to attend a pre-game ceremony at PPG Paints Arena honoring him Sunday.
At one point during the 1990s, Jagr’s popularity rivaled even that of Lemieux, inarguably the most beloved professional athlete in Pittsburgh’s rich sporting history. However, a parting with the Penguins after the 2000-01 season turned him into a villain in the eyes of many fans.
Jagr, speaking at a private event Friday night, offered new insight into his divorce with the Penguins.
“Only me and (former Penguins general manager) Craig Patrick know what happened,” Jagr said of his final season with the Penguins, when Lemieux returned from his first retirement to become the NHL’s first owner-player, and Jagr even offered him the captaincy he inherited from Ron Francis several years prior.
“I talked to Craig after the season. I said, ‘Listen, Craig, I know it’s tough for you to trade me because you’re the guy who drafted me, you were like a father to me.’ I knew it. I could see it. … I don’t think he would ever trade me, I don’t think he would.
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“But I told him, ‘Hey listen, you know — let’s do it this way, it’s gonna be good for the organization. Maybe it’s gonna be good for me. I’m gonna take the pressure from you. I’m gonna say, ‘I want to be traded.’ I think he was talking to Mario, and it just happened.”
Jagr stressed his reasoning for requesting a trade — the Penguins dealt him to the Washington Capitals in the 2001 offseason — was in part because Lemieux had returned and would draw fans to the arena. Also, Jagr said, his departure would free money for the revenue-strapped Penguins to re-sign the likes of Alex Kovalev, Martin Straka and Robert Lang.
“That’s the story about Pittsburgh I didn’t really have a chance to explain,” Jagr said. “Maybe it was bad communication with everybody, but I thought that back then that was the best thing for the team.”
Jagr was booed heavily in his return to the old Civic Arena. He was booed in subsequent returns with the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, too.
Phil Bourque, a former player and current Penguins broadcaster, told Jagr on a trip to the Czech Republic in 2020 that Penguins fans were upset more because he played for the franchise’s three historic rivals. On that trip, Bourque delivered a message to Jagr — the Penguins wanted to retire his jersey.
“You still got it!” “One more shift!” These @penguins fans — and players — are eating up @68Jagr joining practice. Such a surreal moment.@TheAthletic pic.twitter.com/hjvTShx04J — Rob Rossi (@Real_RobRossi) February 17, 2024
In Pittsburgh, the only time a potential retirement of Jagr’s jersey was not popular came in the wake of his decision to sign with the Flyers, not the Penguins, in July 2011. A month-long saga that became known as “Jagr Watch” reached a fever pitch with reports of a conversation between Lemieux and Jagr, a comment by Jagr in which he said he’d take the NHL minimum salary to play for Lemieux, and Jagr’s agent, Petr Svoboda, insisting Jagr’s “heart was in Pittsburgh.”
Dan Bylsma, the Penguins’ coach when Jagr was about to return in the NHL, said he envisioned a top power play that featured Jagr, Crosby and Malkin.
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“I’m in my office with a group of people and the conversation turns to Jaromir Jagr and how (it could work),” Bylsma said. “The power play, when you looked at it just from the pure standpoint of it being a 1-3-1 and all five guys are pieces of it, and Jagr’s skill set may be best suited on the half-wall … being that guy in that spot with the other four guys out there.
“Being there he could provide a lot of puck plays to the other guys in the other spots. It’s certainly something you want to entertain and you get excited about the possibilities and adding something like that.”
Former Penguins GM Ray Shero said an offer was extended to Jagr, but was pulled when word came that Jagr was leaning toward the Flyers. Even Flyers GM Paul Holmgren was surprised Jagr chose Philadelphia over Pittsburgh.
“I remember talking to Ray after, him saying they had some interest in (Jagr),” Holmgren said. “It happened pretty quickly. My recollection is we first heard from Svoboda on July 1” — hours before the start of free agency.
“I don’t think there was any negotiation,” Holmgren said. “It was, ‘This is what we have, this is what we can do.’ Svoboda said, ‘OK, I’ll get back to you.’ And the next thing I know, he did. It happened pretty quick.”
In only a few hours, several weeks of anticipation by Penguins fans that Jagr would stage a homecoming with his generational heirs, Crosby and Malkin, turned to anger. But even then, Lemieux was adamant Jagr’s jersey would one day hang next to his No. 66 in the rafters wherever the Penguins called home.
“I’ve never heard Mario say a bad word about Jags,” said Rick Tocchet, a former teammate of both with the Penguins who was playing golf with Lemieux during the Jagr Watch.
“I’ve never heard Jags say a bad word about Mario.”
Whatever might have been 13 years ago, Jagr is finally living out his reconciliation with the Penguins. Fans once infatuated with and then infuriated by him are receiving Jagr as a hero returning home. And the current Penguins’ legends finally had their moments together with Jagr on the ice.
“For him, I’m sure it’s nice,” Crosby said. “He played for some other teams, but for everything to come full circle — to be able to be around some of the teammates he played with and experience this whole weekend with them and his family — I’m sure all those memories come back.
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“For the team itself, whether it’s fans or people that work in the organization or people who grew up watching him here, it brings us all back to his time here and some of the great memories he provided. And just his legacy.”
(Top photo of Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jaromir Jagr on Saturday: Gene J. Puskar / AP Photo)
Jaromir Jagr joins Penguins for surreal practice ahead of jersey retirement
