“Jagr (Pronounced YAW-gur)” Was Worth the Risk for Penguins

Looking back at the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, it was certain that Jaromir Jagr would be a top selection.

But there was uncertainty about the 18-year-old winger, and although he was seen by some observers as the best available player, some teams with high draft picks had their doubts.

Thanks to the Velvet Revolution of November 1989 that ended one-party Communist rule in his native Czechoslovakia, Jagr would not need to defect as some of his compatriots had, like draft rival Petr Nedved, who had done so a year earlier.

But Jagr was under contract to his pro team at home in Kladno. He was also a member of the national team. He hadn’t completed high school. There was also some question about whether he would have to perform military service at home before he would be allowed to travel to North America to play pro hockey.

And then there was the competition. The list of prospects available in the draft was mouth-watering, with Nedved, Owen Nolan, Keith Primeau, and Mike Ricci filling out a consensus Top 5 along with Jagr. Ricci spent the entire 1989-90 campaign rated No. 1 by NHL Central Scouting and, after completing his second straight 50-goal, 100-point season with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL, found himself still ranked at the top of the list on draft day.

That said, it was believed that second-ranked Nolan, another 50-goal scorer in the OHL, would be taken 1^st overall because he had the skill, size, and belligerence that his prospective employers, the Quebec Nordiques, were looking for. OHL scoring champion Primeau was rated third and Nedved, who had played with the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL, was rated fourth. At that time, Central Scouting did not rank European players, but Jagr was regarded as the best of that bunch.

Edmonton Oilers chief scout Barry Fraser thought he was the best player available, period. “He’s a great skater,” he told Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. “He’s a big kid who’s excelled at every level.”

But Fraser also noted the potential pitfalls facing a Jagr selection. If only, scouts and managers around the league must have thought, there was some way to guarantee that he would play in North America.

Pittsburgh Penguins’ GM Craig Patrick had the fifth pick in the draft. More importantly, he had personally scouted Jagr. He made it clear that he was leaning toward the dynamic young Czech if he was available at No. 5, and he was willing to wait until Jagr could play in the Steel City. He was also considering ways around the perceived roadblocks. For instance, perhaps Jagr could complete school in Pittsburgh. Maybe his expected military service could be deferred.

Jagr, who couldn’t speak English, said through an interpreter prior to the draft that he wanted to play in North America as soon as possible. He thought it could happen after the world junior championship in December and January.

As it turned out, Jagr was available at No. 5 on draft day in Vancouver, and Patrick grabbed him. Nolan, as expected went 1^st overall to Quebec while Nedved was claimed second by the Vancouver Canucks, Primeau went third to the Detroit Red Wings, and Ricci was taken fourth by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Jagr and his parents visited Pittsburgh immediately after the draft and he fell in love with both the city and his new team, especially cherishing his opportunity to meet Pens’ captain Mario Lemieux. That’s when Tom McMillan, at the time a Pens beat reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and later the team’s vice president of communications, took it upon himself to educate his readers on how to say the prospect’s name. It is, he wrote, “pronounced YAW-gur.”

Jagr returned to the city to stay in late July 1990. There was no military service, no world junior championship, no more international appearances with the Czechoslovakian national team. (He did later suit up on many occasions for the Czech Republic.) Patrick bought his playing rights from the Kladno pro team – which, incidentally, Jagr now owns and, for one more season, still plays for.

“Long term, he’s going to be a great asset to this organization,” Patrick told Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Press ahead of Jagr’s first season. “How quickly he’s going to adjust to the National Hockey League and how quickly he’s going to be able to contribute a lot to the Penguins, we don’t know. But long term, he will contribute a lot.”

Two Stanley Cups in his first two seasons in Pittsburgh, five Art Ross Trophies as the NHL’s top scorer, a Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player in 1999, two Lester B. Pearson Awards as the most outstanding player as chosen by his peers, and seven postseason all-star selections are just a taste of what he contributed to the Penguins, who retired his famous No. 68 earlier this year. He captained the team for three seasons and scored more points in the 1990s than any other NHL player.

And now that he’s announced he will finally retire from pro hockey after 37 seasons, he’ll join many of his fellow Pens in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2028.

Patrick is one of those Hall of Famers. When he looks back on the 1990 draft that brought Jaromir Jagr to Pittsburgh, he must wonder how he ever could have thought he was taking a risk by choosing the Czech teenager. And he’ll be eternally grateful that he did it.