Pittsburgh Penguins to retire Jaromir Jagr’s number in February
The Pittsburgh Penguins have decided to retire Jaromir Jagr’s number before the team’s February 18th game against the Los Angeles Kings. From now on, nobody will be able to wear number 68 in a Penguins jersey again. Jagr played the first part of his long NHL career for the Penguins. He played in Pittsburgh from 1990-2001 and won two Stanley Cups with the team.
Jagr is a guaranteed first-ballot hall of famer whenever he decides to hang up the skates for good. At 51 years old, he is still officially on the roster for his hometown team Rytiri Kladno in the Czech Republic. He hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2017-18 season when he signed a one-year deal with the Calgary Flames. His age finally caught up with him as he only scored one goal in 22 games with the Flames.
After 2018, there weren’t any NHL offers available to him so he went home to play for Kladno, the same place he played before he joined the NHL in the late 1980s. From 2018-2023, Jagr played 135 games for Kladno, scoring 31 goals and 92 points in the Czech League.
As part of the celebration set to take place in February, the Penguins will be giving out replica “Jagr 68” banners. In addition, the team will be giving out Jagr bobbleheads before their March 14th match-up against the San Jose Sharks.
Jagr played for nine different NHL teams in his career spanning three decades. He made an indelible mark on the Penguins, currently sitting in fourth-place in franchise history in points. He also made an impact on the Washington Capitals when he played there for three years in the early 2000s. Jagr led the New York Rangers to the playoffs in 2005-06 with an incredible 54-goal, 123-point season.
In addition, he went on to play a season for the Philadelphia Flyers, split a season between the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars, played almost two years with the New Jersey Devils, and played three of his last four seasons of his career with the Florida Panthers before ending his NHL career in Calgary.