Brad Marchand on Jaromir Jagr: 'Dedicated his life to (hockey)'

Jaromir Jagr's NHL career appears to be over.

The 45-year-old future Hall of Famer cleared waivers Monday and will play for HC Kladno of the Czech 1 Liga in the Czech Republic. He signed a one-year deal with the Calgary Flames in October and was limited to 22 games due to injuries. He posted one goal and six assists for seven points. Calgary was his ninth NHL team.

Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy coached Jagr when the two were with the Washington Capitals from 2002-2004. Their time together was interesting, according to Cassidy.

“Well, I got fired,” Cassidy said with a smile. “I’m not putting it on him, by the way. Jags was our leading scorer when I was there, both regular season and playoffs, and that’s what he’s paid to do. For me, as a young (coach), he was a lot of maintenance, in terms of communicating, when to communicate and what he needed. I’m probably much better equipped to handle that now, but (not) at the time. I liked Jags. I liked talking hockey with him. The issue with him was some days he wanted to talk hockey, and I had trouble figuring out when was the appropriate time to talk to him about stuff like that.

“He had passion for the game and knowledge of the game – no doubt. He loved it. But, there were some days when it was tough. That’s just the way it was and I think most coaches would echo that. He required a certain level of maintenance, yet he produced for us. It was good and bad.”

The Bruins acquired Jagr at the trade deadline in 2013 from the Dallas Stars in exchange for Lane MacDermid, Cody Payne and Boston's first-round pick (Jason Dickinson) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Jagr played 11 regular-season games and posted two goals and seven assists for nine points. The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup finals that season and Jagr posted only 10 assists in 22 games before Boston lost to the Chicago Blackhawks.

“He’s obviously one of the best players to ever play the game,” said former teammate Brad Marchand. “It’s incredible what he’s been able to do at his age. It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to keep going and continue to break records, but he’s had a phenomenal career and very happy for him.”

Marchand remembers how serious Jagr was about his game.

“He loves hockey. He dedicated his life to it, so you’d see that on a day-to-day basis that everything he does is for the game and you have to respect that," Marchand said.

No doubt Jagr was unique.

“He was different,” admitted Marchand. “You had to watch it too. He cares so much about the game, he can hold it for a long period of time too. If he wasn’t happy about a game he played a few games before, he’ll carry that. You’ll say ‘hi’ to him and he’ll just look at you. There were days when he was the happiest guy in the world. You come in and you just want to laugh it up and chat it up, but there were days you would say, ‘hi’ and you would breeze right by you. A very emotional guy and he really cared about the game.”

When asked what he’ll be doing at age 45, Marchand said: “Sitting in a tree stand somewhere. Hanging with my family, taking my kids to school, coaching hockey and sleeping on the couch – everything I don’t get to do now.”