Hockey icon begins 38th professional season in Czechia as Ovechkin nears 900 career NHL goals
Even at 53, Jaromir Jagr refuses to hang up his skates. The NHL legend made his season debut for RytΓΕi Kladno on Friday night, officially beginning his 38th professional hockey season β and pushing back his Hockey Hall of Fame eligibility clock until at least 2029.β
Jagr logged just over 10 minutes of ice time in Kladnoβs 3-1 win over HC Vitkovice, skating on the fourth line and joining the power play unit in front of a home crowd that still chants his name. The appearance makes him the oldest active professional hockey player in the world and further extends the longest playing career in the sportβs history.β
βItβs unbelievable,β said teammate Jakub Konecny. βHeβs 53, but when heβs in the locker room, it feels like heβs still one of us. We have so much fun with him.β
For Jagr, who debuted as a 16-year-old in 1988, time has become almost irrelevant. His resume remains one of hockeyβs most decorated: two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins, five scoring titles, an NHL MVP in 1999, and 766 career goals, fourth all-time behind only Wayne Gretzky, Alex Ovechkin, and Gordie Howe. He also sits second in career points (1,921) and has earned Olympic gold and two world championship titles representing Czechia.β
For now, immortality can wait. Jagrβs decision to lace up again this season delays his Hall of Fame induction by at least another year, as the three-year retirement rule resets each time he plays. The earliest he can now enter the Hall is 2029, unless, of course, he keeps playing past his mid-50s.
Though once balancing roles as both player and majority owner of his hometown club, Jagr sold 80 percent of Kladnoβs shares earlier this year to secure the teamβs financial stability. Yet his motivation to keep playing appears to come simply from an undying love for the game. βHeβs an alien,β joked former teammate Eduards Tralmaks last year. βSomeone needs to study this guy; heβs not human.β
Jagrβs longevity is staggering. He has now shared the ice with players born after his last NHL game in 2017 and outlasted an entire generation of teammates and opponents. As Tom Barrasso, his former Penguins goaltender, once remarked, βHeβs still as driven and fit as he was in his 30s, and maybe even happier.β
Meanwhile in the NHL, Jagrβs longtime contemporary Alex Ovechkin continues inching closer to another historic milestone. The Washington Capitals captain sits on 894 career goals, just six shy of becoming the first player to ever reach 900. His pursuit of Gretzkyβs all-time mark (894) has become one of hockeyβs defining storylines heading into the 2025β26 season.
It is fitting that two generational icons, one playing on through his fifties, the other rewriting goal-scoring history, continue to shape the sport. Between Ovechkinβs chase and Jagrβs refusal to retire, hockeyβs past, present, and future collide on the ice each time they play.
For now, at 53 years and 244 days, Jaromir Jagr remains an active professional athlete. And judging by his smile after Fridayβs game, his legendary career may not be finished yet.
