Jágr is also one of only three players from 1981 to 2001 to win the Art Ross Trophy as the leading point-scorer during the regular season; the others are Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

[6] As a youth in his native country, he kept a photograph of American president Ronald Reagan in his school grade book as a protest against the policies of the Soviet Union.

[7] Because of this, after Jágr was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the fifth overall pick in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, he was able to relocate to North America from Czechoslovakia immediately.

He would later match this feat on 11 January 2003 by once again scoring three goals and four assists in a game against the Florida Panthers as a member of the Washington Capitals.

In 2000–01, Jágr was struggling to find his scoring touch and faced criticisms about his relationship with Penguins head coach Ivan Hlinka.

Thus, on 11 July 2001, the organization traded him, along with František Kučera, to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Kris Beech, Michal Sivek and Ross Lupaschuk.

Jágr sits second behind Lemieux in career goals in franchise history and third in games played, assists, and points, having since been surpassed by Sidney Crosby.

[11] However, Jágr did not live up to expectations in Washington, as the Capitals failed to defend their division title and missed the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs.

During the NHL labor dispute in 2004–05, he played for HC Kladno in the Czech Republic and, afterward, for Avangard Omsk in the Russian Superleague (RSL).

Jágr led the Czech Republic to gold at the 2005 World Hockey Championships in Austria and was elected a tournament all-star.

Jágr scored his 1,400th point on a power-play goal against the Philadelphia Flyers on 2 March 2006, pushing him past Jari Kurri into second place all-time among European-born players.

Two nights later, on 29 March, Jágr passed Ratelle when he assisted on Petr Průcha's first-period goal against the New York Islanders' Rick DiPietro.

On 5 April 2007, against the Montreal Canadiens, Jágr scored his 30th goal of the 2006–07 season, tying the NHL record held by Mike Gartner.

On 3 July 2008, Jágr, an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career, was informed by Rangers general manager Glen Sather that the club would not offer him a new contract.

Sather admitted that the two sides never engaged in detailed negotiations for a new contract and that after many months of speculation, Jágr was "seriously considering" going to Russia to finish his career despite offers from other NHL teams.

As a member of Avangard, Jágr was sitting next to Alexei Cherepanov, a first-round pick of the New York Rangers, who died during a game against Vityaz Chekhov.

After the NHL lockout ended, he made his debut as a Star on 19 January 2013, when he tallied two goals and two assists in a 4–3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes.

[28] On 2 April 2013, Jágr was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Lane MacDermid, Cody Payne and a conditional third-round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

After the Bruins lost the Finals to Chicago in six games, the team announced on 26 June that they did not intend to offer Jágr a new contract.

[34] Jágr, at age 41, hoped to help the Devils overcome the loss of Ilya Kovalchuk, who had previously departed for the KHL.

On 1 March, Jágr scored his 700th career NHL goal as the Devils won 6–1 against the New York Islanders at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

[44] On 3 January 2015, in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Jágr became the oldest player in NHL history to score a hat-trick at 42 years and 322 days.

[47] On 19 March, Jágr scored his 718th career goal against Detroit to move him past Phil Esposito and fifth on the all-time goal-scoring list.

[49] On 11 April, in the Panthers' season finale, Jágr reached 2,000 NHL points (including playoff games) when he assisted on a Jonathan Huberdeau goal.

[64] He noted the tendency of teams to focus on younger players to the exclusion of older ones like himself, which he considers understandable and in light of which he remarked, "I was pretty lucky.

The team's recent failures, however, were mitigated in 1998 when the Czech Republic won the men's gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Jágr again represented his country at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, scoring two goals and one assist in five games as the Czech Republic again lost in the quarterfinals.

After losing to Sweden in a battle for a bronze medal on 2014 IIHF World Championship in Minsk, Jágr announced the end of his career in international play with the Czech national team, focusing his efforts on returning to the NHL playoffs after New Jersey failed to qualify in 2014.

His father, also named Jaromír Jágr [cs] (1940–2022), owned a chain of hotels and served as president of HC Kladno.

Usually, the club would travel once or twice a year to see him play in person, but after Jágr signed with the Flames, they announced that they would be a more regular fixture at games.