NHL players should not wear No. 68 to honor Jaromir Jagr

While NHL players can wear No. 68 on their jerseys, skaters should honor hockey legend Jaromir Jagr and not select the unique number instead.

It’s only a matter of time before the Hockey Hall of Fame officially inducts Jaromir Jagr.

After first lacing up his skates with Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990-91, Jagr finally played in his last NHL game with the Calgary Flames in 2017-18. While the Czech Republic native is still playing professional hockey and isn’t eligible for the HHOF yet, the NHL should still honor Jagr’s No. 68 in familiar fashion.

NHL skaters should tribute Jagr and not wear No. 68.

For starters, let’s revisit the No. 68’s history in the NHL and why Jagr wore it. Since 1994, 19 different skaters other than Jagr have worn the unique number that Jagr branded himself with.

The only other notable name in hockey history that donned No. 68 was Ziggy Palffy with the New York Islanders in 1994 and 1995. Keep in mind that Jagr chose No. 68 to honor his grandfather who survived the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Currently, there are five skaters that wear the number and likely wear because they’re honoring the NHL’s third-highest goal-scorer in league history, or because their respective clubs have too many numbers that were retired or previously owned.

For the record, the notable players that currently don the number are Mike Hoffman, Victor Olofsson and Melker Karlsson.

While current and future skaters might want to wear No. 68 to honor Jagr, the league and players are better off not wearing the number.

The hockey legend’s illustrious and iconic career on and off the ice implemented a certain mystique to No. 68. Anytime hockey fans born before, let’s say, 2010 sees a No. 68, the chances are they immediately relate the number with Jagr.

That’s the beauty of hockey and sports — relating numbers to professional athletes. It’s an aspect that can never be erased from one’s perspective, whether that pro is a Hall of Famer or not.

Similar to Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99 and Mario Lemieux’s No. 66, Jagr posted an infamous career while wearing an uncommon number, given his era, where he established “68” as his own forever. He was that good throughout his NHL career and the rare number selection just added to Jagr’s aura on the ice and his reputation.

Now, this isn’t arguing that he was better than Gretzky or Lemieux, but rather this is about cherishing hockey’s awesome quirks and superstitions.

However, then there’s the discussion about Gordie Howe’s No. 9. Howe, Gretzky and Lemieux arguably go down as the top three players of all-time to lace up their skates, so shouldn’t current players respect Howe and not wear 9?

Not exactly.

The reason why “99” and “66” aren’t worn is because of how unique and untraditional they were during a respective era compared to No. 9, which is just too common.

That’s almost like telling teams and players they can’t wear red helmets because of the Detroit Red Wings’ rich history and being the first team to utilize that color for buckets.

It just looks odd any time players currently take to the ice wearing No. 68. At the very least, the team’s that Jagr skated for shouldn’t allow their players to select his number.

There will forever be only one No. 68, and that’s Jaromir Jagr.

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