The 2024 class of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame was announced on Sunday morning, with former Philadelphia Flyers forward and hockey legend Jaromír Jágr among the inductees.
⭐️ Jaromir Jagr – IIHF Hall Of Fame Induction 2024 ⭐️
🇨🇿 The legend of Jaromir Jagr grows by the day, as it has for the last three decades and more. Indeed, Czechia’s Number 68 continues to play for his club team, Kladno, even though he is 52 years old and more than a decade… pic.twitter.com/9GE58rltXz
Regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all-time, the one-time Flyer first represented Czechoslovakia and then Czechia during his international career, participating in a European Junior Championship, a World Junior Championship, and a Canada Cup along with 10 World Championships, five Olympic Games, and two World Cups of Hockey from 1989 to 2015. Over his international career, Jágr recorded 60 goals and 72 assists for 132 points in 133 games played to accompany three gold medals, a silver medal, and five bronze medals.
Internationally, Jágr most famously helped Czechia claim their first ever Olympic gold medal in men’s ice hockey in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. The tournament was the first with full NHL participation. He racked up a goal and five assists in the tournament as the Czechs went on to defeat Russia 1-0 behind a goal from former Flyer Petr Svoboda and a stellar performance in net from Dominik Hašek to win it all.
The 1998 Czech Olympic team was also honored by the IIHF.
⭐️ IIHF HALL OF FAME INDUCTION 2024 – Czech 1998 Men’s Olympic Hockey Team ⭐️
🇨🇿 February 1998 was an historic month in the Czech Republic, a month that saw the men’s hockey team win Olympic gold for the first time. @czehockeypic.twitter.com/DJfTWdqALp
Jágr later became a member of the elusive Triple Gold Club after winning the 2005 IIHF Men’s World Championship, giving him a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, and World Championship gold. Only 30 players have ever achieved the incredible feat.
In the NHL, Jágr participated in 1,733 regular season contests and 208 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He took home the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in points on five occasions, won the 1999 Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, won three Lester B. Pearson Trophies (now the Ted Lindsay Award), and claimed the 2016 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
Originally drafted fifth overall by Pittsburgh in 1990, Jágr won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins alongside Mario Lemieux and company in 1991 and 1992 and spent 11 seasons in the Steel City before being traded to Washington in 2001. From there, the Kladno native skated for the Capitals and New York Rangers before going to the KHL to play for Avangard Omsk in 2008. After leaving Russia, the then-39-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Flyers for 2011-12 before going on to play for the Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers, and Calgary Flames until leaving the Flames just 22 games into the 2017-18 season.
Jágr’s signing with the Flyers was very surprising, considering he had previously played for three of Philadelphia’s biggest rivals in the Penguins, Capitals, and Rangers, but he became a vocal leader in the locker room and was a fantastic player on the team’s top line alongside Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell. Jágr finished third on the team with 54 points (19G, 35A) in 73 games behind Giroux (93) and Hartnell (67) as the Flyers went on to face his former Penguins in the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
Aiding them with a goal and six assists for seven points, Jágr helped the Flyers defeat the Penguins in one of the most epic playoff series in NHL history. His lone goal in the series – and playoffs – stood as the game-winner in the Flyers’ 8-5 victory in Game 2.
Jágr would finish the postseason with eight points (1G, 7A) in 11 games as the Flyers fell to the Devils in five games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Jágr still ranks second in total NHL scoring, behind only Wayne Gretzky, with 1,921 points. He also ranks fourth in goals (766) and games played (1,733) and fifth in assists (1,155).
After leaving the NHL for good, Jágr has been playing for Rytíři Kladno, his hometown club that he owns. The 52-year-old recorded four assists in 15 regular season games this past season as Kladno finished at the bottom of the league but staved off relegation in their final series against VHK Vestín, in which Jágr posted one goal and one assist.
