The things Jaromir Jagr has been able to accomplish in the NHL at 44-years-old are nothing short of incredible. The veteran forward has put up 23 goals and 54 points in 67 games this season and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
When asked how long he’d like to play hockey, Jagr said his new goal is to extend his career until he turns 60, but he doesn’t want to limit himself.
“It may be after that, but I don’t know,” Jagr said of playing till 60, per Sportsnet. “I’m not sure yet.”
There’s no doubt that Jagr is hitting the gym harder now than he did in his earlier playing days. A few hours after playing over 18 minutes in a 5-4 win over the Flyers last Saturday, the Panthers forward posted a picture of himself at the gym at 1:30 in the morning.
“I took a lot of days off when I was younger,” said Jagr. “I didn’t have to practice to be good” – but it doesn’t happen too often now.
“The only way you get tired with hockey is when you don’t work hard enough and you play the game and you kind of embarrass yourself. You’re embarrassed because the other guys are better than you, but that’s because you didn’t do enough to prepare for yourself for it.”
Jagr is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but given his production and the amount of coverage he’s been given this season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Panthers extend his contract. After all, he’s been a great fit on Florida’s top line with youngsters Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov.
Re-signing Jagr makes a ton of sense, but will he definitely be playing in the NHL next season? Nobody knows that for sure, not even Jagr himself:
“That’s another question I can’t answer. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen – maybe a car’s going to hit me tomorrow and I’m going to be dead. You’re asking me questions; like I don’t have the (crystal) ball to see through this.”
Never change, Jaromir Jagr. Never change.
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