Did Jaromír Jágr Play His Last Career Game On Sunday? Maybe Not, Some Say

Jaromír Jágr at his number retirement ceremony in Pittsburgh on Feb. 18, 2024. © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

In the team’s second-to-last game of the Czech Extraliga regular season, and last game at home before a sell-out crowd of 5,200, Rytíři Kladno lost 5-0 to visiting HC Vítkovice Ridera on Sunday, which mathematically eliminated Kladno from playoff contention.

Kladno is also safe from the possibility of being relegated, which means Tuesday’s game at Mladá Boleslav will be the team’s last of the season.

Jaromír Jágr, who turned 53 on Feb. 15, logged 14:48 of ice time in the game, including 1:01 of power-play time, recorded two shots on goal and was a minus-1. For the season, his 37th in professional hockey, Jágr played 39 games, scoring five goals and adding 11 assists for 16 points with 16 penalty minutes.

Immediately after Sunday’s game, Jágr was interviewed on-camera by Czech Television reporter Darina Vymětalíková, where he confirmed that it was his last game of the season, as he won’t be accompanying the team to its final game, which will have no bearing on the standings.

“I definitely won’t be going to Mladá Boleslav,” said Jágr. “I won’t be here for practise tomorrow either.”

Of course, the question on everybody’s mind, and the one that Vymětalíková asked him next, was whether that was it – will there be any more games next season?

In typical Jágr fashion, the answer was evasive.

“Now I’m going to get my teeth fixed and then I’ll see,” he said. “When I get them fixed, I’ll see what I look like.”

In fact, he’s always been evasive on the matter of retirement, which can’t be postponed forever. While it’s been widely believed all season that this season would be his last, Jágr has never expressly said so.

During a promotional event last summer, he was asked if 2024-25 would be his last season.

“In Kladno for sure,” Jágr replied.

“And what does that mean? Would he then possibly play elsewhere?” Czech reporter Zdeněk Janda pondered in his June 4 column for iSport.cz. “He didn't want to comment on that. He did not specify whether this will be his last season in the role of owner.”

“It’s hard to say anything now. I’m not 100 percent sure,” Jágr continued in that article last year. “I’ll be happy to say when I have the answers, but now I have nothing on the table. When I know 100 percent how to proceed, I will of course announce it.”

In his usual cryptic way, Jaromír Jágr made an announcement that seems on the surface to say that the 2024-25 hockey season will be his last as a player. But some are still scratching their heads at the wording he used.

thehockeynews.comThis will be Jaromír Jágr’s last season … “in Kladno for sure”In his usual cryptic way, Jaromír Jágr made an announcement that seems on the surface to say that the 2024-25 hockey season will be his last as a player. But some are still scratching their heads at the wording he used.

But nothing’s been announced. Certainly not when asked point-blank after Sunday’s game, but also not in terms of his general post-game behavior.

If it was his last game, there didn’t seem to be a satisfying finale that one would hope to get for a career as remarkable as Jágr’s. Many Czech journalists, in fact, seem to think that it wasn’t his last game.

“The fans chanted the names of the players who are expected to be leaving, and Jágr just waved to them, but it really didn’t give that impression (like it was his last game),” said journalist Filip Ardon who has covered the Kladno team extensively over the years, on the podcast Zimák Živě (Rink Live). “It was just as if another season had ended and I don’t doubt that he will continue.”

In fact, the consensus from the five panelists on the podcast seems to be that it’s more likely Jágr will return next season than won’t. They also speculated on the wild possibility of him playing for a team other than Kladno – which is difficult to imagine happening if he still owns 20 percent of the club.

“There’s always talk going on – Sparta because he played an exhibition game with them for their 120th anniversary, Plzeň because of the connection to (GM and part-owner) Martin Straka, who he played with in Pittsburgh and with the Rangers,” said Pavel Bárta of Deník Sport, who then joked, “There’s something true in every rumor so, as an exaggeration, I’d like to see him play with Roman Červenka and maybe Tomáš Plekanec in Pardubice to form the oldest forward line in history.”

Whether or not Jágr’s career is finished is apparently up in the air, but his season is definitely over and he didn’t hold back his thoughts on that.

“It’s a failure,” he said about the way the season ended. “I wanted to play in the playoffs. Maybe we would have only extended the season by a week, but you never know. I believed that if we advanced and faced Litvínov, for example, we could have surprised.”

Some of Jaromír Jágr’s top moments playing hockey in his home country have come at Prague’s O2 Arena, but Tuesday night’s Czech Extraliga game might be one that he’d rather forget. Rytiří Kladno – the team Jágr plays for and co-owns – lost 5-2 to Sparta Prague. Jágr pulled himself out of the game after the 3-0 goal, which was scored shorthanded with Jágr on the ice.

thehockeynews.comJágr Benches Himself After Mistake Leads To Shorthanded GoalSome of Jaromír Jágr’s top moments playing hockey in his home country have come at Prague’s O2 Arena, but Tuesday night’s Czech Extraliga game might be one that he’d rather forget. Rytiří Kladno – the team Jágr plays for and co-owns – lost 5-2 to Sparta Prague. Jágr pulled himself out of the game after the 3-0 goal, which was scored shorthanded with Jágr on the ice.