Czech Mate: The Top Ten Czech Republic NHL Players Of All Time | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Expecting Michal Rozsíval? No, Jaromír Jágr is the greatest Czech Republic NHL player of all time. Drafted fifth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1990 draft, he became the first Czechoslovak player to be drafted without first having to defect. He joined the Penguins immediately and had a successful rookie season, recording 27 goals and 57 points. He helped Mario Lemieux lead the Penguins to the Stanley Cup that season, also becoming the youngest player ever, at 19, to score a goal in the Stanley Cup finals. Jágr had a larger role on the Penguins the next year, with a 32 goal, 69 point season in only 70 games. He scored 11 goals and 24 points in the playoffs as the Penguins won their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.
The 1992-93 season saw Jágr cement himself as an elite NHL scorer with a career high 34 goals and 94 points. He had a similar season next year with 32 and 99. But the lockout shortened 1995 season would be the first test of his true greatness. Superstar Mario Lemieux announced that he would miss that season due to fatigue from his cancer treatments. Jágr rose to the occasion, winning his first Art Ross Trophy with 32 goals and 70 points in only 48 games. He had tied Eric Lindros for the scoring lead, but won based on the strength of his 32 goals to Lindros' 29. Lindros, however, captured the Hart Trophy. The 1995-96 season saw Lemieux rejoin the team, and had Jágr show just what he could do with a full season of hockey. He recorded an absolutely incredible 62 goals and 149 points, setting a record in points for both European players and right wingers.
After the following season, Lemieux had decided to retire and leave the Penguins in Jágr's hands. Jágr was subsequently named the Penguins' captain and responded by winning his second Art Ross Trophy with 35 goals and 102 points. He won it once again the following season with 44 goals and 127 points, and also captured his only Hart Trophy for that effort. Despite playing in only 63 games the following season, Jágr was again the league's top scorer.
The 2000-01 season started slow for Jágr. He had clashed with the team's new coach, Ivan Hlinka and was down in the scoring race to the Colorado Avalanche's Joe Sakic. It was clear that Jágr needed a spark. That spark came in the form of Mario Lemieux, who returned to the ice on December 27th, 2000, after a three year absence from hockey. Showing he had not lost a step, Lemieux went on to record 35 goals and 76 points in only 43 games that season. Jágr was also positively impacted. He went on a scoring surge and eventually won his fourth consecutive Art Ross Trophy with 52 goals and 121 points, edging out Sakic by only three points. Jágr however, had become too expensive for the small market Penguins to retain.
After the season, the unthinkable happened as Jágr was traded to the Washington Capitals for assorted prospects. The Capitals proceeded to sign Jágr to the largest contract in NHL history at the time, $77 million over ten years. Noticeably unhappy, Jágr played well for the Capitals, but not nearly to his potential, failing to top the 80 point plateau in his two full seasons there. It was with Washington, however, that he scored his 500th career goal. In 2004, he was traded to the New York Rangers during the Capitals' fire sale in exchange for Anson Carter. Washington had also agreed to pay $4 million of Jágr's salary per season. Jágr played well for the Rangers down the stretch, but they missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
Coming out of the lockout, the Rangers were projected to be the worst team in the NHL. Jágr, however, was unconvinced. He found new life in New York, dominating the NHL to the tune of the second best season of his career, setting Rangers scoring records with 54 goals and 123 points, losing both the Rocket Richard Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy by two goals and points each. He did, however, capture the Lester B. Pearson award. Jágr's Rangers though, more importantly, had broken the streak of playoff futility, and though they were swept by the Devils in round one, it was a step in the right direction.
Named the Rangers' captain for the following season, Jágr had another successful season with 30 goals and 96 points. On November 19th, Jágr became just the 16th NHL player to score 600 career goals. He once again led the Rangers to the playoffs, where they swept the Atlanta Thrashers, but fell to the Buffalo Sabres in the semi-finals. The 2007-08 season was looking to be Jágr's worst. He struggled for most of the season, leading many fans to believe that he was out of gas. However, late in the season, Jágr found new life. He began dominating like he did in his younger days and finished the season with a respectable 25 goals and 71 points, setting a record for consecutive 70 point seasons. He continued to dominate in the playoffs and was the NHL's leading playoff scorer when the Rangers were eliminated by his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins in the semi finals.
A free agent for the first time in his career, the Rangers informed Jágr that the team would not offer him a contract. Unwilling to play for another team, Jágr headed to Russia to play in the newly formed KHL, where currently plays. Jágr left the NHL with 646 goals and 1599 points, 13th and ninth all time respectively. He also ended his career with the seventh highest point per game average in NHL history. The all time leading scorer among European players, Jaromír Jágr is the top Czech of all time.
