From memory, I think it was in a radio interview, either with Madden or Joe Starkey. Probably somewhere around 4 years ago.
Gotcha.
Thing is, this piece came out in The Athletic earlier in the season -
Finding Jagr: On Phil Bourque’s quest to connect with his... - and I think it's got a different message. It's about Phil Bourque going over to the Czech Republic and talking to Jagr, but there's quite a lot about the possibility of him getting his number retired.
...I'm gonna quote from bits of it:
"The Penguins, at Lemieux’s request, have been trying for years to persuade Jagr to return to Pittsburgh to have his number retired.
...
“I told him then that we want to retire his number,” McMillan [VP of Communications] said [at NHL 100 event]. “I said to him then: ’68 belongs up with 66, your number next to Mario’s.'”
...
However, since Bourque, like others, had heard Lemieux was the person in the organization most insistent on Jagr joining him in a form of franchise immortality — well, maybe that was a point only Bourque could make clear to Jagr, who told Bourque the last time he spoke with Lemieux was at that NHL centennial event.
...
Jagr made Bourque a promise: Within a year of playing his last professional hockey game, he would return to Pittsburgh for the Penguins to retire No. 68.
On one condition.
Bourque had to make sure fans in attendance cheered — “and for a long time.” "
Apols to mods if that's too much quoted, but I thought it more impactful to quote than summarise. McMillan and Bourque aren't providing quotes for this article unless a) The Pens org really wants it b) They're pretty damn sure there won't be egg on their face. To me that supersedes Tocchet's comments from four years ago.
Life can change quick but right now it looks like it's happening, whether people like it or not, and it's just a matter of when.