Jaromir Jagr opens 37th professional season in his Kladno Knights team's Czech league loss

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Jaromir Jagr has opened his 37th professional season, with hometown team Kladno Knights in the Czech league.

In what is expected to be his last season, the 52-year-old winger set up a power play goal, the only one Kladno scored in a 5-1 away loss to Pardubice on Wednesday night.

It was the first time Jagr had played a season’s opener since the Calgary Flames released the NHL’s second-highest points scorer in 2018. He returned six years ago to Kladno, the team where he made his debut as a teenager and which he owns.

He played at Pardubice despite not being fully fit due to a muscle injury that forced him to interrupt pre-season training for four weeks.

Jagr said he needed more games to be back to his best.

“That’s fine, (it was ) the first game,” he told local media.

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