Jaromir Jagr was never short of ways to do things differently, and that applied off the ice as much as on it. Jason Strudwick found that out when a simple question about weekend plans turned into a paid assignment.
Strudwick shared the story on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast. He and his wife were newly married at the time, and Jagr, who was seeing someone, had no particular interest in a night out.
“He had a girlfriend at the time. He didn’t necessarily always want to go out,” Strudwick said.
That created a small problem, because his girlfriend did want to go out. So when Jagr heard that Strudwick and his wife had plans, he saw an opening and asked whether she could tag along.
Then he made sure the evening went well.
“He gives me like a thousand bucks. He’s like, take her out. I’m like, ‘Oh, you got it,'” Strudwick said. “So we go out and then take her for dinner on his money. Go for drinks after, and they’re all dancing. She’s an amazing dancer. My wife and I’d go and break up, push the guys back there like at 2:30 in the morning.”
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The job description extended to getting her home safely.
“I’m like, we’re done, so we jump in a car and I’d take her home. I’d call Jags, ‘Hey, we’re coming.’ He was like, ‘Ok, thank you.’ And she’d go up,” Strudwick said.
It also became a repeat arrangement, and Strudwick wasn’t shy about the terms.
“The next one, he’s like, ‘Do you have enough money?’ Yeah, we were good,” Strudwick said. “I mean, I kept a little for myself, like a little for the effort.”
What was Jaromir Jagr like as a teammate?
The two shared a dressing room with the New York Rangers, where Jagr put up the best individual seasons in franchise history while Strudwick filled a depth role on the blue line. Jagr’s 54 goals and 123 points in 2005-06 remain Rangers records, and he later wore the captain’s C in New York.
Strudwick went on to play more than a decade in the NHL across six organizations before moving into broadcasting in Edmonton. Jagr, second only to Wayne Gretzky on the all-time points list, simply never stopped, and has kept playing professionally back home in the Czech Republic into his 50s.
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