Post retirement of number #68 Jaromir Jagr reflection thread - Finally home in PIT

[BusinessGoose]

This might be a take, but I think retiring Briere was a mistake. The numbers up there should be 66, 68, 87, 71 and *maybe* 58. Even if they took it out of circulation- fine, and they still can keep his rookie trophy, but he simply did not have that kind of impact for the franchise and as far as I'm aware, was driving impaired when he got into his accident.

Grain of salt from wiki:

Longstanding rumours that Brière was behind the wheel were confirmed in 2021. He insisted on driving after drinking alcohol.[6]

..... But yeah this is also why you need to be selective with the honors. It's one thing to remove a poster from a hallway in the future when something happens that makes the one honored now a persona non grata.

Not saying Briere DUI is that level, but, I also don't really see why it was retired. Paint the number on a wall unless they were REALLY important to the team.

 

[Dessloch]

Very rare twitter post from Jagr:

 

[JTG]

It absolutely made sense. Crosby played on the goal line/bumper. Jagr would have taken Kunitz' spot. Would have been awesome.


This picture would be so much better with the regular jerseys and better patch placement.

Kunitz played in front of the net. Jagr liked having the entire half wall that Sid and Geno both worked from. He could have got #2 PP mins and his unit probably would have been better than Sid and Geno's.

Lemieux and Jagr are the two greatest PP players I've ever seen.

 

[Dessloch]

Coffey with some nice words as well:

 

[vikingGoalie]

what a great ceremony and jagr just cemented in my head again that he is one of the greatest forwards to every play the game.

I loved the commentary he had when in the booth. He broke down what was wrong with their PP in like 10 seconds. maybe we should bring him on as the PP coach

 

[Dessloch]

Now its offical It looks awesome!

 

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

Plenty of room up there for 87, 71 and 58.

 

[JTG]

Coffey with some nice words as well:

Coffey and Recchi were highly missed this past weekend.

 

[JTG]

Plenty of room up there for 87, 71 and 58.

To me, retiring Letang's number takes a bit away from it. He never won any major award for his position, though he was nominated. His number will probably be retired (as no player would be dumb enough to wear it in Pittsburgh after him), but in my opinion the only numbers that should hang from the rafters are 66, 68, 87, and 71. They have the hardware.

I remember thinking Boston Garden was so cool, and it would be such an honor to have a team that had scoring leaders, and MVPs, and championships. The ceiling of PPG is looking really nice these days.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

To me, retiring Letang's number takes a bit away from it. He never won any major award for his position, though he was nominated. His number will probably be retired (as no player would be dumb enough to wear it in Pittsburgh after him), but in my opinion the only numbers that should hang from the rafters are 66, 68, 87, and 71. They have the hardware.

Yea Letang is a weird one. I feel he's underrated among Pens fans, but he did hold the back end down for the majority of his career. Yet he unfortunately played in an era that had some really good Dmen (Lidstrom/Pronger/Doughty/Burns/Keith) so he could never be called the best at his position for any particular year but was always a top 5 in the league. Hard call.

Idk, it would be weird for him to be excluded if Sid and Geno are up there.

 

[orby]

Via the Pens Instagram. Looks like they did change the Lemieux banner to match - and the Briere banner, too.

 

[JTG]

Yea Letang is a weird one. I feel he's underrated among Pens fans, but he did hold the back end down for the majority of his career. Yet he unfortunately played in an era that had some really good Dmen (Lidstrom/Pronger/Doughty/Burns/Keith) so he could never be called the best at his position for any particular year but was always a top 5 in the league. Hard call.

Idk, it would be weird for him to be excluded if Sid and Geno are up there.

Right. I think him being exclude won't pass the feels test so he will ultimately have his jersey retired, but every time I see his number up there 1 of the 5 is not like the others. I don't even consider Briere because his number should be painted on the wall or something. Should never have been retired.

 

[Maninthebox87]

I loved seeing the fans reactions to him during his ceremony. I’m hoping this means he’ll be around more for events and maybe alumni games. Loved hearing him in the press box dropping an “f bomb” he genuinely was rooting for the penguins.

 

[Dessloch]

I loved seeing the fans reactions to him during his ceremony. I’m hoping this means he’ll be around more for events and maybe alumni games. Loved hearing him in the press box dropping an “f bomb” he genuinely was rooting for the penguins.

Would love to see him dress up in a Penguins jersey again for an alumni game or a couple

They did ask him about alumni games during the presser, but I think Jagr was just so nervous about the ceremony and speech he could not focus on anything else before that. Its clear Jagr has been following the Penguins, there has just been no reason to showboat it.

I just found this from Jan Hrdina. I had not seen it, I guess it must have been played on the jumbotron or something during the game. For some reason it felt like one of the most heartwarming messages:

"I am very happy for you because I know how much you loved the city of Pittsburgh and the Penguins.

I am proud I had the oppurtinity to be your teammate and linemate. From the the very beginning you have support me and other young players from the team. Your dedication and competetiviness inspired us and showed us we can achieve anything we want if we work hard enough for it.

Perhaps even more you helped me off the ice. You and your family took care of me while I was away from mine. I always felt welcome in your home, thank you Jags for everything!"

 

[Rave7215]

Plenty of room up there for 87, 71 and 58.

You forgot 29. I'd bet money those 4 go into the rafters

 

[BusinessGoose]

If 58 does, 29 will have to

Which is why 58 shouldn't

 

[Ryder71]

Plenty of room up there for 87, 71 and 58.

58 is NOT in that class, come now.

You forgot 29. I'd bet money those 4 go into the rafters

No, then you open it up to potentially four or five other guys. All of 66, 68, 71 and 87 were league MVP's, Multiple scoring champs and Multiple 1st team all stars. If you aren't in those categories, you don't go into the rafters.

 

[Elvis P]

"Since the Pittsburgh Penguins already had the likes of Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis and several other offensively talented players, trading Markus Naslund at the 1996 trade deadline to the Vancouver Canucks for Alek Stojanov seemed to make perfect sense. Right? Wrong. Naslund would go on to have 12 terrific years with the Canucks. He served as captain of the team for eight seasons, became the franchise leader in both goals and points, and had his number retired at the Rogers Arena last season. Stojanov? Well, certainly nothing inspiring about his play, as he had seven points (two goals and five assists) in 107 NHL games". Top 10 regrettable trade deadline deals

That was a horrible trade during Jagr's Pens career. Naslund for a guy who scored 7 career points.

 

[SomeDude]

"Since the Pittsburgh Penguins already had the likes of Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis and several other offensively talented players, trading Markus Naslund at the 1996 trade deadline to the Vancouver Canucks for Alek Stojanov seemed to make perfect sense. Right? Wrong. Naslund would go on to have 12 terrific years with the Canucks. He served as captain of the team for eight seasons, became the franchise leader in both goals and points, and had his number retired at the Rogers Arena last season. Stojanov? Well, certainly nothing inspiring about his play, as he had seven points (two goals and five assists) in 107 NHL games". Top 10 regrettable trade deadline deals

That was a horrible trade during Jagr's Pens career. Naslund for a guy who scored 7 career points.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Naslund wasn't working out

 

[Ugene Magic]

Naslund wasn't working out

Mario was retiring the next season.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Paging @Coastal Kev

Please share your wild weekend with Jagr story

 

[Coastal Kev]

Paging @Coastal Kev

Please share your wild weekend with Jagr story

I got snowed in on Long Island in 93 during a Nor Easter. I was invited to go on Pens booster trip with the team, we stayed at their hotel. The storm delayed the game by two days and the team was trapped with us in the hotel for 4/5 days. Countless interactions, including a near brawl started by me and former isles goalie Billy Smith.

My only Jagr interaction was I was playing Pinball in the bar one afternoon and Jagr & Straka appear next to me, Jagr motioned to let him in and we spent the next hour or so playing pinball, laughing our asses off. What made it funny was Jags using the F bomb nearly every other word out of his mouth. Straka didn't say much at all. The story almost became historic, I told Jags that I brought my Sega Genesis with NHL 93, he loved the game and wanted to come to my room to play. Sadly we were interrupted by a long haired brunette. I didn't see Jagr until the next day in the lobby with her leading out front and his teammates shaking their heads and laughing.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

I got snowed in on Long Island in 93 during a Nor Easter. I was invited to go on Pens booster trip with the team, we stayed at their hotel. The storm delayed the game by two days and the team was trapped with us in the hotel for 4/5 days. Countless interactions, including a near brawl started by me and former isles goalie Billy Smith.

Story sidetrack upcoming:
I'm seriously surprised at the Billy Smith thing. 3 of my executives have been paired with him over the past 15 or so years during their annual golf outing. All 3 say he was the most kind and down to earth hockey player they've ever met. He doesn't even like talking about his time in the NHL, but will speak if you bring it up.

They did have some not-kind words about Bobby Hull.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Story sidetrack upcoming:
I'm seriously surprised at the Billy Smith thing. 3 of my executives have been paired with him over the past 15 or so years during their annual golf outing. All 3 say he was the most kind and down to earth hockey player they've ever met. He doesn't even like talking about his time in the NHL, but will speak if you bring it up.

They did have some not-kind words about Bobby Hull.

100% my fault. Dumb and young. He walked up to me and Linesman Leon Stickle who I had befriended on the trip. Billy went to shake my hand and I pulled it on him. I then said that’s for not shaking hands after 82 playoff OT series ending. Nice Billy turned into game time psycho Billy. Being in a crowded bar we were swallowed by a mass of men taking sides. Luckily Leon was an expert at breaking up such nonsense. I was an ass but I didn’t anticipate Billy going code red. Leon gave me a dressing down, but then had a big laugh when I explained my failed/ignorant logic.

Edit: I was told after by my brother that current Isles and Pens players joined the scrum and took sides. I can't remember who, but it ended up in a scrum of probably a dozen men and I was under ground zero of the humanity.