Jaromir Jagr was blackmailed with a photo of him in bed with an 18-year-old woman. His response: to not care at all.
Jaromir Jagr, 43, has reached that fun stage of his career where he's as much myth as he is man. He's rapidly ascending the all-time scoring ranks thanks to a massive library of highlight-reel offensive plays over the past two-and-a-half decades. He has a real chance to pass Gordie Howe for third in points this season. And yet, Jagr isn't the old dog we patronize with standing ovations during a bittersweet farewell tour. He remains a relevant NHLer with enough bounce left in his step to land him on a solid first line in Florida with Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov. The "man" side of Jagr remains a legit force, but he continues to add to the "myth" side, too. He's inspired
a line of peanut butter and
a Czech musical. He's named himself as his own favorite player. He's
made this outfit look cool. And, for his latest trick, he's taking down blackmailers.
The Czech tabloid Blesk reported a model named Catherine, 18, took this "selfie" photo of herself in bed with Jagr.
Someone found the photo on Czech social media and decided to try and extort the equivalent of about $2,000 U.S. from Jagr, lest the blackmailer shop the pic to the media. Nova.cz published the image Sept. 17, altered to show only Jagr as proof it was the real thing. But then Jagr, being the legend, responded with a resounding "Meh." He decided he had nothing to lose and reportedly told the blackmailer he didn't care if the photos were published. The model is dating Czech junior player Dominik Rudl, who, like any 19-year-old Czech, idolized Jagr, as
Puck Daddy points out. To top of all off, the Jagr Selfie has become an
Instagram meme now: #jagrselfie. Sounds just about right for something pulled from The Jagr Files.
Matt Larkin is an associate editor at The Hockey News and a regular contributor to the thn.com Post-To-Post blog. For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, subscribe to The Hockey News magazine. Follow Matt Larkin on Twitter at @THNMattLarkin