Jaromir Jagr

When Jagr was sixteen years old, he became a professional hockey player. He signed with Poldi Kladno, which played in the Czech Elite League, the best league in the country. In Jagr's first season, he scored only eighteen points in thirty-nine games. But in his second season, 1988-89, he played in fifty-one games, posting an impressive thirty goals and fifty-nine points. Jagr also got some international exposure. When he was seventeen, he played on the Czech national team at the 1990 World Championships. The Czech team beat Team Canada in at least one game. These numbers and this exposure got Jagr noticed by the National Hockey League.