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Devils winger Jaromir Jagr isn't ruling out playing in the 2018 Olympics.

(John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

LOS ANGELES – Jaromir Jagr is a lock for the Czech national team when it competes in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but don’t even suggest that it will be the Devils winger’s last Olympics.

Jagr would be 46 if he played in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.



"I understand that. It's funny, but don't forget that by then I'll be playing in Europe on the big ice and there probably won't be NHL players," Jagr pointed out. "I would have to stay healthy and I would have to have the same desire.



"(Chris) Chelios did it. In 2010 I said I would like to play in the world championships in Prague in 2015 and everybody laughed. Now it's just over one year away."



No one is laughing at Jagr these days.



As for the NHL, both the league and Players' Association will wait to decide on whether players participate in South Korea.

Both Jagr and Patrik Elias would seem to be assured of spots on the 2014 Czech squad.



"I hope so, if I'm healthy," said Elias, who has dealt with back spasms this this season. "I might not make it if they picked the team now.



"I'm not really thinking about it. After the new year, when you get within a month or a month and a half, everybody starts talking about it. There is still a lot of hockey to think about here."



Jagr agreed.



"It's not on my mind right now at all," he said.

* * *

Jagr and Martin Brodeur are both having solid seasons, but the two 41-year-olds will have to pick up the pace if they hope to get in the NHL record books.

The most points in a season by a player who was at least 41 years old on the final day of the season is 71 by Gordie Howe in 1969-70, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Howe turned 42 years old less than a week before the end of that season.

Jagr, who’ll turn 42 on Feb. 15, is on a pace to score 66 points if he plays in all 82 games.

The most victories in a season by a goalie who was 41 or older at the end of the season is 38 by Dominik Hasek in 2006-07. Hasek was 42 years old.

Brodeur, who’ll turn 42 on May 6, is on pace to win 27 games.