PRAGUE -- Jaromir Jagr is healthy, happy, feeling good and still playing professional hockey at 52 years old. He has not decided if this season with Kladno, the team he owns in the Czech Extraliga, will be his last.
"Hey, what about if I'm going to play good?" the two-time Stanley Cup champion and second-leading point-scorer in NHL history told NHL.com on Friday. "You never know. That's my goal. I always wanted to be the best I can be."
Jagr dropped the puck in the ceremonial opening face-off at O2 Arena before the New Jersey Devils' 4-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres in the regular season-opener in the 2024 NHL Global Series Czechia presented by Fastenal.
He received a raucous ovation as he stood on the red carpet between Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin and Devils forward and Czech native Ondrej Palat.
On Sunday, Jagr will be on the ice, this time in uniform for Kladno against Karlovy Vary.
"This is what I did all my life since I was 3 years old," Jagr said. "I don't mind to go there [to the rink]. It's my arena. If nobody is there, I'll go there. It's like people go walking into the forest, I'll just go skate on my own on the ice. It just gives me a free mind. That's where I'm happy.
"People are always asking, 'Why does he still do it?' I never had a goal to win this, this and this. I just enjoy it. I just love it. Same thing, my father was a farmer until the day he died. He didn't have to do it. It's what made him happy."
Jagr has played in all seven games this season for Kladno (4-3-0), with a goal and an assist.
He played in only 15 games and had just four assists, last season, when he said he weighed 270 pounds. Jagr dropped 30 pounds in the offseason.
"After I went to Pittsburgh last year I decided I just want to do things that make me happy," said Jagr, who had his No. 68 retired by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 18. "I lost some weight. I was weighing 270 pounds, so it was tough for me to play. I wanted to be good, but I was too heavy, I didn't even enjoy it and I was afraid I was going to get injured because I was too heavy.
"So I lost some weight. I'm at the same weight that I played at in the NHL. I don't get tired and I enjoy it a lot more than I did the last year."
The fact he's playing and running the team at the same time hasn't given Jagr much time to think about his future once he does officially hang up the skates, whenever that may be.
But if he has a future with an NHL franchise, Jagr was clear he only has one in mind: the Penguins, who he helped win back-to-back Cup championships in 1991 and 1992, the first two of his 24 seasons in the League with nine different teams.
"In Pittsburgh, I finally know where I belong," he said. "I played with so many teams and I loved every minute of that but I spent the most time and I feel that's where I belong, and I feel like I got the stamp last year when I got [my number retired]. So I feel like I'm a Pittsburgh Penguin."
Jagr played his last NHL season with the Calgary Flames in 2017-18 at the age of 45. His 1,921 points in the League (766 goals, 1,155 assists in 1,733 games) trail only Wayne Gretzky in NHL history (2,857). Jagr ranks fourth all-time in goals and games played.
He said he and the Penguins discussed a potential future role when he was there last season for his jersey retirement ceremony.
"But it would have to be something that makes me happy," Jagr said. "I don't want to do it if it doesn't make me happy. I still love the game and I feel like I always had the gift to see the game differently, that's why I could play so long.
"But I don't want to just go somewhere and give advice. I want to feel it from the other side too, that we want to hear the advice. It's got to be two-way. I don't be the policeman and say, 'Hey, you have to do this, this and this.' I don't like that because if you see somebody come for advice he knows, I know he wants to be better. Not every player is thinking that way."
One thing Jagr said is certain is he will not attempt another NHL comeback.
"I had my time, my turn and I want to say thanks to the NHL," Jagr said. "They made me what I am right now. I appreciate it. I was so lucky. I had a great run. That was a great life."
He also knows the longer he plays, the longer it will take him to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's a sacrifice he's willing to make.
"That's OK," Jagr said. "I just want to do things that make me happy. Hockey makes me happy, still playing. Hopefully one day I'm going to get there."
