Is Jágr an exceptional figure in domestic history, or can he be compared to someone?
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Not much, perhaps only two people could approach him with their fame and longevity. These are the aforementioned Josef Maleček and Jan Peka. Both were already among the best players at a very young age, as Peka went to the first European Championships in 1913 and the last in 1936, which is an incredible variance and his career length resembled that of Jagr. He was undoubtedly the best Czech goalkeeper of the pre-war era. Josef Maleček had a harder time asserting himself in his youth, because in the period around the founding of the republic, one attack was played and in Sparta, where he was the best, he could not get on the ice despite aged representatives. That was the reason for the establishment of the LTC Prague club, where they built it around it. He resembles Jágr in terms of impact and reputation, although of course only within Europe. Maleček is also comparable in the number of big tournaments. However, Jágr has achieved great success even among professionals at the world level, so in this respect it is one floor higher.
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Let’s go to the early years of Jágr’s career. We know that he compared a lot to Reichl and Holík, a year older. He joined the league in 1988 and scored the first adult goal for Dominik Hašek.
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We had players who had a more rocketing start. For example, it was Robert Reichel who had more points in the rookie season. But imagine today that a 16-year-old boy gets into the extra-league team, immediately starts scoring goals and a year later he is a key player of the team. And we are talking about the Czechoslovak league, where, apart from a few emigrants, it was the best, which cannot be compared with today. Even then, it turned out to be exceptional. And that I scored the first goal for Hašek, I consider it symbolic and funny how two huge personalities met at such a moment in Jágr.
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He is also symbolic of Jágr’s first – albeit unofficial – start for the national team, isn’t he?
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Yes. When preparing sports quizzes, my favorite question is in which city Jaromír Jágr first competed against the NHL team. It was September 11, 1989 and he played against the Calgary Flames in Prague. It was no show, the matches were popular because Calgary was the Stanley Cup winner. Jágr has already started to be a key figure in Kladno, so it was a completely justified nomination in front of the full hall and his substantial experience with international hockey.
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Hockey historian and marketing director of Motor České Budějovice Tomáš KučeraPhoto: Petr Zikmund
A few months later, he gave the first hat-trick in the league and the headline published: Jágr smokes Sparta. How crucial was this for his career?
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Quite a turning point. Media coverage then was not the same as today, when all the goals in the league can be seen. A maximum of one or two matches appeared in Goals, points and seconds. It was more about the players. Although an article about Jágr was published in the Stadium during his student years, the connoisseurs knew about him. But Sparta’s three goals were a step towards raising awareness among the general public. Then it started and he was unmissable in the national team.
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The title of Svobodné slova after Jágr’s first hat-trick in 1990.Photo: Twitter
The year 1990 was really crucial. After all, a line of young rifles Jágr, Reichel, Holík made it to Bern at the World Championships. At the same time, when one goes through the sets from the championships of that time, they were relatively homogeneous teams, where there was only a minimal change. So how special was such a nomination for teenagers?
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Absolutely exceptional. Pavel Wohl was a progressive coach and he was obviously not afraid to try it. However, this has had no parallel in history. It was always just individuals like Peter Šťastný, who started playing as a national when he was very young, but it didn’t happen that they took the whole attack of teenagers and deployed him.
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The draft soon came to light. Jágr went fifth in the order, ahead of him was Petr Nedvěd, then a Canadian. It was after the Velvet Revolution, how much did the Penguins believe that Jagr would be left with them?
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All the scouts knew that he would be a great hockey player. But that put it off. It will sound absurd to today’s 20-year-old boys and girls, because you will find everything about the players. But they had to call it then, which meant that you would call somewhere, someone had to take it there and get a specific person. Although Jagr has already accomplished something at the international forum, no one knew if he would actually leave for America. Petr Nedvěd was overseas. Jágr did not speak English, lived with his mother and “only” played hockey. So to uproot him from the environment and install him in another was a lottery bet. This may have hampered the teams ahead of the Penguins, as there were more similar attempts. After all, one of the highest-ranking Czechoslovak players in the 1980s was Jiří Dudáček from Kladno, whom Buffalo married in the first round as the 17th. And today he is a player that almost no one knows.
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It is a fact that in the top 30 there was only Jiří Šlégr next to Jágr, Nedvěd from Europe. The others were Canadians and Americans.
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Just. Although the situation was relaxed and it was possible to leave legally, no one knew if it would work out. That was why Jágr was not number one or number two. But this little risk paid off for the Penguins. However, Jágr did not have easy beginnings and had to overcome difficulties.
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As we watch the series Ninety, it appears in a series of episodes in a time-like shot. Did we live his American dream with him?
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Yes. We tuned the OK3 program, where we saw a long-haired boy shining in the grainy image. He struck a fantastic time, or rather a time fantastically hit him. Many players from the Czechoslovak league left for the NHL, but he came there at the age of eighteen, at the age he had. And he joined the team, which was beginning to prosper, which held him back. The whole republic cheered for him. For us boys and adults, it was hard to imagine that a fighter from Czechoslovakia was winning a competition that we considered mythical. Moreover, it was finally possible to write about it freely and be seen. Jaroslav Pouzar has won the Stanley Cup three times, but it was published in the newspaper with a notable (short report). But Jagra we saw him playing, his hair fluttering behind him, which was a phenomenon for the Americans as well.
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But he didn’t do well in the national team for a long time. The championship in 1994 ended in failure, the 1996 World Cup was a direct cardinal disgrace. Did Nagano change his view of him?
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He had big bugs. We knew we had a player overseas who was one of the best, but at the same time when he came to the national team, it didn’t work. At the World Cup, as the reigning world champions, we were supposed to show that we were among the best, but it was a crazy explosion, when the cans were attacked by cans in Prague after a disgrace. Suddenly, doubts began to arise as to whether Jágr really was a boost for the Czech national team. Later, it turned out that he needed to cut back a bit, because he caught the manners of a star that no one was used to, because no one here for 40 years could be considered a star. He was a star, he acted that way. He took it away, but the others had to acknowledge that they had someone like that and adapt the game to him.
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What did coach Hlinka do?
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Yes. He took Vladimír Růžička to Nagano, there was Dominik Hašek, who attracted attention and it was not the usual Jágrmania. And suddenly it worked. Jagr also gave the team a chance. After the victory, nothing could destroy his aura. It was already clear that he would remain an icon and other successes went directly behind him.
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What was the historian’s view of his best period?
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It depends on what criteria we set. When we say it’s the team’s success, which is the most important thing in hockey, it was the start in the NHL and two Stanley Cups. If we take his point achievements, it’s a later era in the Penguins when he won the Art Tross Trophy. And 149 points from the 1995/96 season is an insane amount, unimaginable today and great in the context of history. From the leader’s point of view, it is again his best time in the Rangers, when he conquered New York. And from a representative angle? He was great in Nagano, but he did not win the tournament himself. He managed to do that with Tomáš Vokoun in 2010 and he was an unquestionable driver. If I had to choose, I would choose a later era in the Penguins, when he was one of the best, if not the best striker in the NHL.
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Is the pity of his three years in Russia the lens of hockey history?
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Certainly. In terms of numbers and history, he would hold many more records in the NHL. From a statistical point of view, it was a mistake, but it probably should have been. He could play in the national team again, and maybe that added to him later in the NHL.
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Does world history perceive it as exceptional? Sometimes I feel that overseas experts don’t take him that much.
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I don’t think world hockey history is fair to him. But we were also better off winning the NHL than anyone else. So if they can highlight a Canadian in Canada, they will. However, if we take his post, he has virtually no competition in the history of the NHL. No one doubts Jágr overseas, and when he ends his career, he will become a member of the Hall of Fame. But of course we have it as a much bigger icon.
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Are they among the top five players in the world?
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Again, it depends on the criteria. The Czechs would put him there, and I think the Canadians too. He is also an exceptional hockey player in the world context.
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Is there anything you regret that, in view of historical records, has failed?
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If the NHL released the Olympics, it would have a record eight. She has 12 victories in the Golden Hockey Stick, but the rules had to change because of it, because until 1994 she was given only to players who played at home. But with all due respect, it was stupid to announce someone from the extra league when we had a fighter in America who was shining. And I really wish him one more mentioned match in the national team.
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