The world’s best player names the three players he most hates to face in the NHL

Even the best players in their sports have opponents they can't stand playing against.

Jaromir Jagr was entering the 2000-01 season as the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, and arguably the best hockey player on the planet.

It's not that Jagr disliked these players personally, but they knew how to handle the Penguins captain and kept him off the score sheet as much as possible.

Oct. 6, 2000 / Vol. 54, Issue 5

Eric Cairns began 1999-2000 discouraged and pondering whether he had a future in hockey He begins the 2000-01 season with a unique distinction.

Cairns is Jaromir Jagr’s choice as the defenseman he hates to play against more than any other in the NHL. Pop quiz.

Quick, and no looking at pg. 28 for the new depth charts: For which team does Eric Cairns play?

In today’s bloated 30-team league, you could be excused for not knowing the 6-foot-6,235-pound Cairns plays the blueline for…wait for it…the New York Islanders.

You can be sure Jagr knows.

The world’s best player was asked by The Hockey News to name the three players — one goalie, one defenseman and one forward — he most hates to face in the NHL. Jagr responded with two familiar choices — Buffalo Sabres’ goalie Dominik Hasek and center Michael Peca.

He also named Cairns, a 26-year-old just three full seasons removed from the East Coast League and a full-fledged NHLer for only the first time this season.

“I never had a problem with anybody who is a lot stronger than me on the boards,” Jagr said. “He’s one of those guys who’s tough and who’s very strong. His goal is not to score any goals. He just wants to concentrate on you. Those are the toughest guys to play against.

“He plays simple. He doesn’t play offense. Probably people would say, ‘Why don’t you pick people like (Ray) Bourque and those guys?’ I’m not saying you like to play against them, but there’s also some chance during the game you might take advantage of their offensive plays.”

With two goals and 13 points to his credit in 146 career games, Cairns isn’t much of an offensive threat. With 435 penalty minutes tc his debit, Cairns is another kind of threat. Not that Jagr is complaining about Cairns’ style. Not that Cairns is apologizing. Cairns says he plays a hard, clean game against Jagr.

In fact, Cairns figures one of the reasons he has finally emerged as a bona fide NHLer is because of his performance against the likes of Jagr last year when Islanders’ coach Butch Goring started matching the behemoth against league stars.

“Maybe I improved more than what people thought I might last year,” said Cairns, who was shocked when told Jagr singled him out. “I’m pretty surprised to say the least. It’s a great honor to have a guy like that say something nice about me.”

Jagr and Cairns don’t say much to each other on the ice, but pleasantries have been exchanged.

“I think we’ve had a few words,” he said slyly. “Nothing too friendly Nothing that I can repeat in The Hockey News.”

Little, if anything, said between Jagr and Peca can be repeated in The Hockey News. They are two of the fiercest rivals in the NHL and Peca wasn’t mildly surprised Jagr fingered him as his No. 1 forward adversary

Jagr, who has won three consecutive scoring titles, goes head-to-head and, occasionally, thigh-to-thigh with Peca on a regular basis.

“He’s a good skater and he does his job checking very well,” Jagr said. “It’s no accident the he won the Selke Trophy He always gives me a hard time when we play against him.”

Do the two intense rivals ever talk on the ice?

“Sometimes it’s screaming, not talking,” Jagr said.

Peca added, “Sometimes he’s doing a lot of listening to me.”

Jagr was reluctant to provide details of their battles. Asked to pick a game that illustrates the competitiveness between the two, he said, “We play so many games. It’s tough to remember one of them.”

Peca had no such difficulty, picking out a Feb. 16 game in 1999-2000.

“There was an incident last year where I went to hit Jaromir right at center ice,” said the Sabres’ unsigned captain. “He was cutting into me. He went to move away at the last second. I didn’t move.”

The two collided and Jagr suffered a contusion to his upper left thigh; Jagr accused Peca of cheap shotting him — there was no penalty on the play — and the super-scorer eventually missed action after taking another hit in a game against Tampa Bay.”

“He went public for a few weeks after that calling me a I dirty player, which is fine,” Peca said. “When you play against a guy, they’re not going to usually have a lot of good things to say I understood that and that’s fine.” Peca said he did nothing wrong and wasn’t trying to hurt Jagr. There was much hype before the next game between the Penguins and Buffalo — but no mayhem transpired. Jagr did, however, score the winning goal in overtime. That was not the first war of words between the two and Peca knows it won’t be the last.

“I try to be as aggressive as I can be. I have a great deal of respect for him, but I try not to show much of that on the ice. I’m not going to use my stick or do anything dirty, but I try to be as aggressive as I can and I try to hit him as hard as I can when I get the chance.”

Jagr’s objective is to do exactly the opposite with Hasek. He doesn’t want to hit his countryman…with the puck. But that’s hard to accomplish when the two-time league MVP is at the top of his game.

“He can make the room in the net so small the way he plays by position,” Jagr said. “He’s so quick. He can read the players.”

Jagr and Hasek made it three straight years that Czechs won the Hart Trophy when Hasek won in 1997 and 1998 and Jagr in 1999. Jagr would have likely made it four straight seasons last year had he not missed 19 games and the MVP honor went to St. Louis Blues’ defenseman Chris Pronger.

Jagr and Hasek teamed up at the 1998 Olympics when Czech finished first in the first ‘Dream Team’ hockey competition: “He was unbelievable,” Jagr said. “The reason we won the gold was because of him.”

Hasek said, “I’ve had some success against Jagr over the years, but he has also scored many goals against me.”

Jagr has 13 goals and 32 points in 28 career NHL games against Hasek. The Penguins’ captain has 11 goals and 26 points in 19 games against Peca. And Jagr had 14 points in five games against the Islanders last year, half of them in a seven-point Dec. 30 explosion.

“He just had an incredible game,” Cairns says. “It was pretty to watch from a fans’ standpoint, not from an Islanders’ standpoint.”

Points or no points, Jagr doesn’t like the prospect of facing Hasek, Cairns or Peca. As for them, Cairns can be the spokesman.

“He’s probably the toughest player to play against in the whole league,” Cairns said. “Just because he gave me a little respect doesn’t mean I’m going to be taking it easy on him if I ever get the chance to play against him again.”

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