Celebrate 68: Looking at Jaromir Jagr’s Legacy

On March 31, 1990, the Pittsburgh Penguins fell to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime on a goal from Uwe Krupp in their final game of the regular season.

If the Penguins had just kept the game tied, they would have made the playoffs. Instead, they missed the postseason for the fifth time in six years.

Of course, that stung in the moment … but as Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Lange said, “I don’t think Penguins fans even realize it today, but that was the best loss ever. It allowed the Penguins to draft at the No. 5 position that summer … and (Pittsburgh general manager) Craig Patrick went out and picked up Jaromir Jagr.

“He was fit, strong as an ox, weighed 240 pounds, and was built to play hockey.”

Revisiting Jagr's Rookie Year

Leading into the 1990 NHL Draft, which was held in Vancouver, all of the teams with high picks interviewed Jaromir Jagr.

He told them he wasn’t coming over to North America right away, and planned to stay in the Czech Republic for the time being. That story changed when Jagr spoke to Pittsburgh’s brass.

“When we interviewed him, he said, ‘I’ll come right away,’ because he idolized Mario Lemieux and he wanted to play with the Penguins,” said Craig Patrick, Pittsburgh’s general manager at the time. “So, he kind of lied to everybody else, and he was left open for us to pick.”

"He Smoked Him Like a Bad Cigar!"

One day, out of the blue, Jagr asked if he could give Mike Lange a saying to use on the air, which became a whole process as Jagr strived to come up with the perfect phrase.

“This went on really for the last half of a season, then we got into the second one, and he said, ‘I'm still working, I’m still working!’” Lange said. “Finally, months after he first asked, he said, ‘I think I got it, I think I got it!’ He was so excited.”

And rightfully so, as all of the workshopping paid off.

“He says, he smoke him like a bad cigar! He started laughing and laughing, and I went whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He said again, ‘He smoked him like a bad cigar!’ Then he just started howling,” Lange recalled. “I said it to myself, then he started laughing again. I said, ‘Jags, I think it'll work. But you got to do me a favor. You got to write it down for me in Czech, because I'm gonna try it in Czech.’”

Jagr's Magnetism (and Mullet) Huge Part of His Legend

In those days, fan mail got put into the players’ lockers, and along with the candy, there were letters and gifts from Jagr’s female fans. One of Tocchet’s favorite stories involves a birthday party for Jagr after Pittsburgh acquired the tough forward from Philadelphia.

“We had some guys who were married, so they didn’t go to it. I was single at the time, and I went,” Tocchet said. “I remember, I think it was a sports café – there must have been 900 people at his birthday party, and I think it was 875 girls. So, it was the impact of being an icon here. Even after the games, going on the bus, even visiting teams – there's always a crowd of people when Jags was around.”

Jagr loved laughing, loved joking around – but also won the respect of everyone around him, from his teammates and his coaches to the fans, for his dedication and commitment to hockey. “He wanted to be one of the best; he put in the time and effort,” his teammate Ron Francis said.

An Evening with Jaromir Jagr

On Friday in the Rivers Casino ballroom, the Penguins legend himself took to the stage for a fireside chat with longtime Pittsburgh TV and radio personality Paul Steigerwald and former teammates Kevin Stevens, Phil Bourque, and Jay Caufield.

Jagr embraced the more intimate nature of the setting ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, which will take place in front of a sold-out crowd. He was relaxed and easygoing, cracking jokes, laughing easily and offering incredible amounts of insight – intriguing, touching, heartfelt, and funny – into different parts of his journey.

While they discussed many topics during the hour-long conversation, these are the stories that stood out the most.