The Flyers lost to the New Jersey Devils in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and Jagr signed with the Dallas Stars for the 2012-13 season. He played in the NHL until the 2017-18 season, before he returned to play for his hometown team, Kladno, in Extraliga, the top league in Czechia.

The 54-year-old chatted with NHL.com about his interest in continuing to play, how much of the NHL he’s able to watch now, and a few of the players he enjoys watching.

You played six games with Kladno this season, but the last one was Dec. 21. Are you retired?

“Not official. I didn’t say that. … It doesn’t make sense to me. To practice at my age, and get ready at my age, spending so much time in my life doing this for hockey, and my ice time is like maximum 12 minutes a game, and it’s the traveling and everything. At my age, it’s not worth it. When you calculate the time I have to get ready for the games, if I enjoy it during the game, mathematically, it doesn’t make sense to me. I still like it, but I don’t know how long I’m going to be active, be able to walk and enjoy my life. I’m 54 so on my side I’ve got maybe 15 more years. I want to spend it the way that I want to. I’m talking about active. You can be alive until you’re probably 80, if you’re lucky. But I’m talking about the active life.”

Living in Czechia, how much NHL are you able to watch?

“I was watching the Olympics for sure. There were a lot of guys from the NHL. The time difference is six hours so it’s kind of tough to watch it at night. I don’t see much besides Saturday and Sunday, when they play some afternoon games so I could see it at night.

“I saw the (Stanley Cup) Final last year, I was in Florida. So I saw the Final, and maybe I’m going to see some games, I’m going to be in Miami for a month. So I might go to see Florida.”

You played for the Panthers from 2015-17, and a few of the players that were there with you are still there. How much fun is it seeing how that franchise has grown to where it won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships?

“When I got there, the young stars, like (Aleksander) Barkov and (Aaron) Ekblad were there. Then they traded for players I played with. Sam Bennett, in Calgary; we played on the same line. Matthew Tkachuk was there, he was a young guy. He was 19 years old back then. So, I played with them in Calgary (2017-18). At least I was on the same team as them. It’s good to see how they’ve developed as players.

“When I was in Calgary, Sam Bennett, they put him in the category of a third-line, hardworking guy. He’s a good hockey player, he’s not just tough guy. He’s a top-six guy, and I think he’s even better than that. Because when I look at hockey, there’s a lot of good hockey players, but the great hockey players, they can go and skate through the neutral zone with the puck under control, beat guys 1-on-1. Like (Connor) McDavid does it, those guys. He’s able to do it. It’s a lot of skill too. You can have the patience, you can have the skill, you can have hockey sense. He surprised a lot of people. I thought everybody wanted to put him as maybe a tough guy, third line, checking. But I think he surprised everybody.”