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October 12th, 2008
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The great ice age returns

Czech NHL stars head home to finish careers

By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 16th, 2008 issue

Jaromír Jágr’s surprising move from the heart of Manhattan and the pinnacle of professional hockey, the NHL, to Russia’s Avangard Omsk came with a second shocking announcement. The 36-year-old former New York Rangers star may finish out his career in Kladno.
“I don’t think I would sign longer than two years just because of my dad,” he told reporters before agreeing to terms with Omsk. “He asked me to come home. He’s helping to build a new arena and he wants me to be there.”
If this will be the case, Jágr would join other key players of the Czech Republic’s “golden generation” in hockey making their way back to the Extraliga. His Rangers teammate Martin Straka left New York for Plzeň, where the 35-year-old veteran first achieved stardom before heading to the NHL 16 years ago. Apart from leading the team’s elite first line, Straka will also work in the club’s front office. Similarly, longtime Czech national team captain David Výborný, 33, quit the Columbus Blue Jackets in favor of Sparta Praha, where he now acts as both player and manager.
“We aspire to build up a strong team and we know that he’s got an appeal to attract good players,” says Sparta’s general manager Petr Bříza.
Second league’s Chomutov also hopes to pull off the same trick, attempting to lure veteran NHL forward Martin Ručinský with a stunning 10 million Kč ($670,000) offer. The 38-year-old admitted he was intrigued by the player-manager role.
“It’s definitely challenging to raise the club to a higher level,” he explains. Ručinský plans to make a decision by the end of this month.
These represent the core of a Czech team that won gold medals at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and captured five world championships. New national team head coach Vladimír Růžička, for one, is very pleased with the trend. After taking over the reins from Alois Hadamczik, he announced plans to woo veteran stars back to the national colors.
“I’d like to get back some of the players for whom playing in the Czech jersey meant something, such as Martin Ručinský or Martin Straka,” he says, adding that Jágr would also be a nice addition.
While the current group of stars to take their career full circle have a few seasons of ice time remaining, the first club to sign an NHL standout — Litvínov, who employed veteran forward Robert Reichel two years ago — did so with front office duties solely in mind.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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