Jaromír Jágr Jaromír Jágr ( ; born February 15 , 1972 ) is a Czech ice hockey right winger who plays for Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League . Jágr formerly played in the National Hockey League with the Pittsburgh Penguins , Washington Capitals , and New York Rangers , serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers , as well as for Avangard . Jágr was the fifth overall selection in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft . He won two consecutive Stanley Cup s in the 1991 and 1992 seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins . In his career he has won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL ' s leading point scorer five times , received the Lester B . Pearson Award as voted by the NHL Players ' Association three times , and won a Hart Trophy as the league ' s most valuable player . He has been named to seven NHL First All - Star Teams . Jágr is currently in the top fifteen among players in NHL career goals , assists and points ( as of the end of the 2008 – 09 NHL season ) , and is the all - time leader among European trained players in all three categories . Jágr recently was chosen as the Czech Republic ' s flag bearer for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics . He is one of a very elite group of hockey players to have won the Stanley Cup ( 1991 , 1992 ) , the Ice Hockey World Championships ( 2005 , 2010 ) , and the Olympic gold medal in the ice hockey tournament ( 1998 ) . This is known as the " Triple Gold Club " , and Jagr is one of only 2 Czech players in the Triple Gold club , the 15th player to complete it out of 24 total , as of June 2010 . Career overview . Jágr began skating at the age of three . At the age of 16 , he was playing at the highest level of competition in Czechoslovakia for HC Kladno . Pittsburgh Penguins . Jágr was the first Czechoslovak player to be drafted by the NHL without first having to defect to the West . He was taken by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the fifth overall pick in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft . He was a supporting player with the powerhouse Penguins that won back - to - back Stanley Cup s in 1991 and 1992 . He was the youngest player in NHL history , at 19 years of age , to score a goal in the Stanley Cup finals . Before he had a clean grasp on the English language , he could be heard reading the daily weather forecast on Pittsburgh radio station WDVE in his broken , thickly accented English . He and teammate ( and fellow countryman ) Jiří Hrdina were promoted as the " Czechmates " , a play on the term " checkmate " from chess . Some Penguins fans realized that the letters in his first name could be scrambled to form the anagram " Mario Jr . " , a reference to teammate Mario Lemieux . In the 1994 – 95 NHL season Jágr won his first Art Ross Trophy as the scoring champion of the NHL . He tied Eric Lindros with 70 points but won based on his 32 goals to Lindros ' 29 . The next year , Jágr set a record for most points , 149 , by a European - born player . Both his 62 goals and 87 assists from that season still stand as career - highs . His 1995 – 96 totals for assists and points stand as the records for right - wingers in those categories . After the 1997 – 98 season , Ron Francis signed with the Carolina Hurricanes , leaving Jágr the Penguins ' captaincy . From 1997 – 98 to 2000 – 01 , Jágr would win four straight NHL scoring titles . In 1999 , Jágr would win the Hart Memorial Trophy , as the NHL ' s Most Valuable Player as well as the Lester B . Pearson Award . In 1998 , he led the Czech Republic ' s team to a gold medal at the Nagano Olympics . In addition to his hockey skills , Jágr was also well - known for sporting a mullet throughout much of his career . On December 30 , 1999 Jagr scored 3 goals and 4 assists for a 7 point night against the New York Islanders . In 2000 – 01 , Jágr was struggling to find his scoring touch and faced criticisms about his relationship with coach Ivan Hlinka . With the return of Mario Lemieux from retirement , the Penguins had two superstars but friction developed between the two ; Jágr held the captaincy but many fans regarded Lemieux as the talisman of the team . Also , the struggling , small - market Penguins could , with Lemieux back , no longer hope to afford Jágr ' s massive salary . Thus on July 11 , 2001 , they traded him ( along with František Kučera ) to the Washington Capitals for Kris Beech , Michal Sivek , and Ross Lupaschuk . Washington Capitals . Later that year the Capitals signed Jágr to the largest contract ever in NHL history ( at that time ) — $ 77 million over 7 years at an average salary of $ 11 million per year , with an option for an eighth year . However , Jágr did not live up to expectations , as the Capitals failed to defend their division title and missed the playoffs in 2002 . Even when the Capitals reunited him with linemate Robert Lang during summer 2002 , Jágr failed to finish among the league ' s top scorers or make the postseason All - Star Team during his time with the Capitals . In 2002 – 03 Washington managed to finish 6th overall in the Eastern Conference , but lost to the upstart Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs despite winning the first two games . This prompted the Caps to unload much of their high - priced talent in order to save money — not just a cost - cutting spree , but also an acknowledgement that their attempt to build a contender with high - priced veteran talent had failed . Disgruntled , the Washington ownership spent much of 2003 trying to trade Jágr , but a year before a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was to be signed , few teams were willing to risk $ 11 million on Jágr . On January 23 , 2004 , he was traded to the New York Rangers for Anson Carter and an agreement that Washington would pay approximately four million dollars per year of Jágr ' s salary . Jágr also agreed to defer ( with interest ) $ 1 million per year for the remainder of his contract to allow the trade to go ahead . New York Rangers . However , due to the new collective bargaining agreement signed before the start of the 2005 – 06 season , Jágr ' s salary was subsequently reduced to $ 7 . 8 million , the maximum allowed under the terms of the new salary cap . During the NHL labor dispute in 2004 – 05 , he played for HC Kladno in the Czech Republic , and afterward for the Avangard ice - hockey team at Omsk in Russia . Jaromír led the Czech Republic to gold at the 2005 World Hockey Championships in Austria ; and was elected a tournament all - star in the process . He also became a member of hockey ' s prestigious Triple Gold Club , players who have won a Stanley Cup , a World Hockey Championship , and an Olympic gold medal . Prior to the 2005 – 06 season , the Rangers had missed the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons . Following the fire sale of the high - priced underachieving veterans that made up the team ' s roster , as well as the retirement of long - time captain Mark Messier , many experts picked the Rangers to be the worst team in the NHL . Jágr disagreed and promised the team would surprise a lot of people and make the Stanley Cup playoffs . He started strong during the beginning of the 2005 season and the return from the lockout of the NHL . He became only the fourth player in NHL history to score 10 or more goals in less than 10 games at the start of a season . His return to dominance helped the Rangers return to the Stanley Cup playoffs , but injuries to Jágr and others contributed to a quick Ranger exit in a first round sweep of the Broadway Blueshirts by the archnemesis New Jersey Devils . Jágr scored his 1 , 400th point on a power play goal against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 2 , 2006 , pushing him past Jari Kurri into second place all - time among European - born players . He later passed Stan Mikita to become the all - time leader . On March 18 , 2006 , against the Toronto Maple Leafs , Jágr became only the sixth Rangers player in team history to break the 100 - point barrier , and became the only Ranger right winger to score 100 points in a season . On March 27 , 2006 , against the Buffalo Sabres , Jágr had a goal and an assist , which tied both the Rangers ' single - season goal record of 52 ( Adam Graves , 1993 – 94 ) and the Rangers ' single season points record of 109 ( Jean Ratelle , 1971 – 72 ) . Two nights later , on March 29 , 2006 , Jágr passed Ratelle when he assisted on Petr Průcha ' s first - period goal against the New York Islanders ' Rick DiPietro . 9 days later , on April 8 , against the Boston Bruins , Jágr scored his league - leading 53rd goal of the season , breaking the Rangers ' single - season goals record . After leading the league in points and goals for most of 2005 – 06 , Jágr was passed by the San Jose Sharks ' duo of Joe Thornton ( 125 points ) and Jonathan Cheechoo ( 56 goals ) , losing both the Art Ross and Maurice Richard trophies in the final week of the season . Jágr finished with 123 points , 54 goals , and 24 power - play goals , second in the league in all three categories . He finished third in the league in both assists , with 69 , and + / - , at + 34 . Despite being inched out by Thornton for the Art Ross Trophy and Hart Trophy ( league MVP ) , Jágr won his third Lester B . Pearson Award as the league ' s outstanding player . However , just as in Washington , playoff success was not to be for Jágr , whose Rangers were swept four games to none by the New Jersey Devils . Jágr suffered a dislocated shoulder in the third period of the first game of the series , which kept him from playing at his top form for the rest of the series . Jágr had surgery on the shoulder after the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs . On October 5 , 2006 , before the first game of the 2006 – 07 NHL season against the Washington Capitals , Jágr was named as the 24th captain in the history of the New York Rangers , replacing Mark Messier , who retired before the 2005 – 06 season . Jágr then proceeded to score a goal on his very first shift in the game , just under 30 seconds into the new season . On November 19 , 2006 , he scored his 600th career NHL goal on Tampa Bay goalie Johan Holmqvist , making him the 16th player in NHL history to do so . Power play linemate Brendan Shanahan had scored his 600th goal almost three weeks earlier , making them the first teammates in NHL history to score their 600th goal in the same season . On February 10 , 2007 , against the Washington Capitals , Jágr earned an assist on a goal by Michal Rozsíval to record his 1 , 500th career point . He is only the 12th NHLer to reach this mark . He is the fourth fastest player to score his 1 , 500th point after Marcel Dionne , Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky . On April 5 , 2007 , against the Montreal Canadiens , Jágr scored his 30th goal of the 2006 – 07 NHL season to record 15 consecutive seasons of 30 or more goals . This tied the NHL record of consecutive 30 - goal seasons held by Mike Gartner . After a regular season slowed by a weak shoulder , he led the New York Rangers to a sweep of the Atlanta Thrashers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals . The Rangers would fall to the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals . On November 14 , 2007 , against the New Jersey Devils , Jágr scored his 4th goal of the 2007 – 08 NHL season at the Prudential Center in Newark , New Jersey , making him the only player to score a goal in 53 different NHL arenas . Jágr finished his NHL career 13th all - time goals scored ( 646 ) , 9th all - time in points ( 1599 ) and 7th all - time in points per game ( 1 . 256 ) . Even though Jagr had departed the league after the 2008 season he left an impression with Ranger fans with the team salute that he created . After every Rangers home win , Jagr would direct the players to center ice and have the whole team follow in saluting the fans by raising their sticks in the air before departing the ice . The tradition is still carried on by the Rangers for every home win . Avangard Omsk . On July 3 , 2008 , Jágr , now a free agent for the first time in his career , was informed by Rangers GM Glen Sather that the club was moving on without him . Sather admitted that the two sides never engaged in detailed negotiations for a new contract , and that after many months of speculation , Jágr was " seriously considering " going to Russia to finish his career , despite offers from other NHL teams . A day later , these reports came true , when Jágr agreed to a two - year deal with Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League ; the deal will reportedly pay Jágr the equivalent US $ 10 million annually . Jágr has also expressed desires to finish out his career at his father ' s club , HC Kladno . Jaromír Jágr was sitting next to Alexei Cherepanov when Cherepanov , first pick of the New York Rangers , died . They were discussing the past shift when Cherepanov collapsed right next to Jágr . Jágr was named Avangard ' s captain on January 30 , 2009 . In April 2009 , Jágr publicly stated an interest in returning to the NHL , stating that he really just needed a break from the pressures of an 82 game NHL schedule . Jágr , who claimed to have lost 15 pounds since his last NHL season , and who was " practicing a lot harder than [ he ] ever did in [ his ] life " stated he would be interested in joining the Edmonton Oilers because of the interest they showed in July 2008 . However , following the expiration of his original contract with Avangard , Jagr re - signed with Avangard for the 2010 - 11 KHL season . Off - ice incidents . Although he has repeatedly denied that he has a gambling problem , he admitted in 2003 that he settled debts totaling US $ 950 , 000 with two internet gambling sites between 1998 and 2002 . The first of these incidents centered on Belize - based website " CaribSports " and its owner , William Caesar , to which Jágr owed US $ 500 , 000 . " Sports Illustrated " reported that Jágr agreed to make monthly payments to Caesar to settle the debt , and Caesar leaked the story to the press when Jágr stopped making payments . In 2003 , the Internal Revenue Service filed a US $ 3 . 27 million lien against him for unpaid taxes for the 2001 tax year . Only a few months before , Jágr had settled a US $ 350 , 000 claim for taxes dating to 1999 . In the summer of 2006 , Jágr sued his former accountant over a tax form that was supposed to have been filed in 2003 , claiming that the form would have saved him $ 6 million had it been filed in a timely fashion . Personal life . Jágr resides in the Czech Republic during the off - season . His father , also named Jaromír Jágr , owns a chain of hotels and serves as president of HC Kladno . Jágr wears the number 68 , which he has worn through his entire career , in honor of the Prague Spring rebellion that occurred in Czechoslovakia in 1968 , also the year in which his grandfather died while in prison . Jágr has been a long time supporter of the liberal conservative Civic Democratic Party , stating in 2004 that he " had always " voted for the party . In previous election he has appeared at the party ' s billboards and was among its generous sponsors . On May 26 , 2010 , he announced he was backing the Civic Democrats and its leader Petr Nečas . At the press conference he said : " " I realise that there will be elections in two to three days . I would like their outcome to be good . " " He also urged the party not to forget about sport when distributing money . " " We all know what would happen if the young did not practice any sport . If children practice some sport , they do not have time for other things such as alcohol . " " Awards . NHL : Other :