Jaromir Jagr’s iconic number 68 jersey is set to head to the rafters of PPG Paints Arena on February 18th the club announced.
Pittsburgh, who will play host to the Los Angeles Kings that evening, will honour the Czech forward as part of their “Celebrate 68” festival planned for early 2024. Jagr is the NHL’s all time leader in game winning goals (135), and ranks 2nd all time in career points with 1,921.
A future hall of famer, Jagr has continued to push back his induction date due to his ongoing hockey career overseas with the team he owns. The 51 year old is still technically an active player for his hometown team of Kladno Knights in the Czech professional league, although his last game action came during the 2022-23 campaign.
āIām excited for fans to welcome him home,ā Penguins president of business operations Kevin Acklin said. āThis is honestly one of the greatest things Iāve ever been a part of. From our first first call over a year ago. Heās a special human.ā
Jagr has won virtually every team and individual award possible throughout his storied hockey career. Amongst his many accolades, he’s a 13x All-Star, 5x Art Ross Trophy winner, 2x Stanley Cup champion, Olympic gold medallist, World champion, and 3x Lester B. Pearson award winner.
Now, his number 68 will join Michel Briere’s number 21 and Mario Lemieux’s 66 as the only numbers to be retired by the Penguins in franchise history.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Marek Blazek. This file is licensed under theĀ Creative CommonsĀ Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 GenericĀ license.