When Jaromir Jagr announced his retirement from the Czech Republic National Team following the 2015 IIHF World Championship, he meant it. He led his team to a fourth place finish and was named the most valuable player of the tournament.
Not even a year where he led the Florida Panthers with 66 points in 79 games, and was second on the team with 27 goals. The oldest player in the NHL took Florida to their first playoff appearance in four years and second appearance in 16 seasons.
He had a discussion with national team general manager Martin Rucinsky, who told Denik Sport that Jagr declined the chance to play for his country after thinking it over for a week. Jagr is a three-time gold medalist in international competitions, winning gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and World Championship titles in 2005 and 2010.
“We spoke to each other during the weekend and his final decision was he wouldn’t be going,” Rucinsky said. “It would be too difficult for him to get ready for such an important tournament during the summer. And he said at last year’s [IIHF] World Championship that he was done with the national team. He also will have a lot of work with Kladno [Czech league team Jagr owns]. He wants to do some work with the team and therefore wouldn’t be able to get ready for the World Cup in time.”
Kladano plays in the WSM Liga, the second-highest professional league in the country.
The World Cup will begin Sept. 17 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The opening night double header will feature Team Europe taking on Team USA followed by Czech Republic playing Canada. Games will be televised on ESPN in the United States, and Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.
