Best Player, Worst Hair #2 – Jaromir Jagr

To celebrate the return of 39-year-old Jaromir Jagr to the NHL after three years of self-imposed exile in Omsk, we feature him as a much younger Pittsburgh Penguin…and likely the leading all-time contender in the “worst-hockey-hair-ever” sweepstakes.

Time was that if you looked up the then-newly coined word “mullett” in a slang dictionary, you’d see a picture of Jagr. Witness: the delicate bangs sitting astride the forehead, the breaking blow-dried bouffant wave towering above, the fibreglassed sides nestling above the ears, and – most impressively – the trademark dead squirrel of curls hanging off the neck.

Despite his obvious aesthetic impoverishment, Jagr in those days was a joy to watch. Sure, he played second fiddle to Mario Lemieux (whose own hair was pretty awful, too), but what a second fiddle – plenty of Art Ross trophies, plenty of All-Star selections, a couple of Stanley Cups, and highlight-reel goals and assists by the truckload.

Jagr now has lost a step and lost a lot of that hair. Both losses will make him less interesting to watch – but the NHL is glad to have him back anyway.