Sep 19, 2024, 06:15 AM ET
Jaromir Jagr has opened his 37th professional season with his hometown Kladno Knights in the Czech league.
In what is expected to be his final season, the 52-year-old winger set up a power-play goal, the only one Kladno scored in a 5-1 away loss to Pardubice on Wednesday night.
It was the first time Jagr had played a season opener since the Calgary Flames released the NHL’s second-highest points scorer in 2018. He returned six years ago to Kladno, the team where he made his debut as a teenager and which he owns.
He played at Pardubice despite not being fully fit due to a muscle injury that forced him to interrupt preseason training for four weeks. Jagr said he needed more games to be back to his best.
“That’s fine. [It was] the first game,” he told local media.
