Jaromir Jagr has had a memorable career in the NHL. Now playing in his native country in the main major league of the Czech Republic, he continues to make his mark by performing at a high level despite his age of 47. An emblematic figure of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 90s, Jagr managed to irritate another legend of the organization in Mario Lemieux.
The two were once an unstoppable force for the organization. That said, a stormy relationship persisted for many years between the two former teammates as evidenced by Phil Bourque in a podcast on WDVE. His words were echoed elsewhere by Sam Carchidi, a journalist covering the Philadelphia Flyers. In his interview, Bourque explains that he recently spoke with Jagr in his own country and the subject of the summer of 2011 came up again. Here's what happened.
Two years before 2011, Jagr was playing in the KHL and he remembers having mentioned that he would sign a contract at the league minimum to return to the Penguins. However, when the moment came, Jagr found that he would be limited to a third line role in Pittsburgh, while Philadelphia assured him a place on the first two lines. This is what pushed him to return to the NHL in 2011 with the Flyers, the sworn enemies of the Penguins. There were shouts of treason in Pittsburgh and Mario Lemieux wasn't happy about it. Jagr signed a one-year contract at the time at a cost of $ 3.3M while the Penguins, according to Jagr in an interview with Phil Bourque, offered a year for $ 2M.
Lemieux was irritated by this decision. Jagr mentions that he felt that Lemieux was not talking to him at all, whereas Lemieux went as far as to call the Czech a "selfish". That season, the Flyers eliminated the Pens in the playoffs, which did nothing to lessen Lemieux's grudge. Interestingly, Jagr returned to haunt the Pens in 2013 while with the Bruins, who eliminated Pittsburgh in the playoffs.
What emerged from this discussion between Jagr and Bourque was that Mario Lemieux still seemed angry during the NHL Centennial events in January of 2017. According to Jagr, it was the first time he saw Lemieux that irritated in person. He suspected it was much worse when it happened in 2011.
Source: WDVE Rocks
