Jagr Reaches 1900-Point Milestone on 45th Birthday, Remains the Best

Age is much more than just a number for the NHL's second all-time leading scorer, it's part of the legend.

With an assist on a third-period goal Wednesday, Jaromir Jagr became only the second player ever to reach 1,900 career points, doing so on his 45th birthday, no less. Goal-scorer Aleksander Barkov and Alex Petrovic, who added the second assist on the milestone tally, are a combined age of 45 and neither were even born when Jagr broke into the league in 1990 as a highly-touted, mulleted phenom from the Eastern Bloc. The team victimized on the benchmark point—the San Jose Sharks—didn't even enter the league until Jagr's second season.

The dude is old, and he's still damn good.

His milestone night comes less than two months after the Panthers' forward surpassed Mark Messier for second on the all-time NHL points list, while last season, Jagr leaped ahead of Brett Hull for third in all-time goals. The nine-time All-Star now has 1,141 helpers to go along with 759 goals—placing him just 42 back of fellow ironman, the late Gordie Howe, for second all time. Howe, who skated in an astonishing 1767 career NHL games, along with Messier (1756) and Ron Francis (1731) are the only three players who have played more games than JJ, who's at 1684 and counting. Sitting just 83 games back of Mr. Hockey, there's very little doubt (barring a serious injury) that Jagr will surpass the Red Wings legend on that list near the end of next season.

Just the ninth player and fifth non-goalie to play a game after his 44th birthday, a legendary work ethic has been the driving force behind Jagr's longevity, as he's willing to put in the time that most of us lazy folk could never fathom. Regularly posting workout videos to his social media accounts and known for his early morning, postgame training sessions, Jagr has solidified a reputation as one crazy, bad-ass dude in the weight room. In December, he posted a video of him shooting a large medicine ball for over a minute straight, over and over again, while sporting ankle weights and a massive weighted vest, because he's insane.

He's taking advantage of all technological and philosophical advancements in training, diet—one that has evolved from the sugar and candy-based one of his younger days—and conditioning that are available to him, and he's tapping into the fountain of youth by having a whole lot of fun away from the rink, too.

Aside from possessing one of the most lovable and vibrant personalities in the game, he's also had some golden performances on-screen while pitching some of his (not-so) famous products over the years. Some of these more notable ventures include his own brand of peanut butter, being the face and name of several Jagr-inspired craft beers, and even lending a helping hand to promote a Czech-based lottery.

Jagr may never catch Wayne Gretzky for top spot on the all-time points list, as the Great One sits a mind-blowing 957 points ahead, but he can take solace in being arguably one of the greatest 10 players to ever lace them up.

None of that really means anything, though, because when you have the stones to rock a mop like this at any point in your career—which Jagr did for a large portion of his—you are truly a hero.