Jaromir Jagr continues to put the cherry on top of his Hall of Fame career with milestone after milestone. On Saturday night against the Winnipeg Jets, Jagr scored career goal number 742 (his second of the night), passing Brett Hull for third place all time.
Jagr has always been strong on the puck, but he was never known for that in his early days. He was more known for his skating and his hands. He still has it there, but to be the kind of physical specimen that can score the kind of goals you see above at age 44 is mind boggling. More so is the fact that he has 742 goals and is third all time having played three seasons in Russia. If he spends those seasons in the NHL and scores a conservative number of 20 per season, he’s passing Gordie Howe tonight instead of Brett Hull.
He’s had a nomadic experience since coming back to the NHL from Russia, and although I don’t believe in ruining one’s legacy by “hanging around too long”, that might have been the talk surrounding Jagr before this season. But this season is proving what hockey people already know: Jagr, even in his post-Russia hockey career, is a very useful hockey player. It might not have been so had Jagr refused to adjust his game. But he has, and the results are legendary.
