When the Czech Republic names their roster for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey at the end of the week, the country's most famous player will not be on it. Jaromir Jagr, fresh off a tremendous season with the Florida Panthers, has decided he will not play in the tournament which will immediately precede the 2016-17 NHL regular season, Czech GM Martin Rucinsky told Denik Sport.

Here's what Rucinsky said about Jagr's decision via NHL.com:

"We spoke to each other during the weekend and his final decision was he wouldn't be going," Rucinsky said. "It would be too difficult for him to get ready for such an important tournament during the summer. And he said at last year's [IIHF] World Championship that he was done with the national team. He also will have a lot of work with Kladno [Czech league team Jagr owns]. He wants to do some work with the team and therefore wouldn't be able to get ready for the World Cup in time."

The Czech team named its first 16 players to the roster at the same time all of the other teams were required to, but left Jagr off to give him more time to decide if he would play.

Jagr signed a one-year extension with the Panthers at the end of the season. At 44 years old, adding the World Cup to his plate that will already include the marathon that is the NHL regular season would have been asking a lot. If Jagr's goal is to play the game at the highest level as long as possible, he's going to have to pick his spots.

It will certainly be disappointing not to see one of the game's all-time greats at this tournament. For a Czech program that has been struggling on the international stage in recent years, they'll also be without one of their best players.

Jagr led all Czech natives in the NHL last season with 27 goals and 66 points. The next closest was David Krejci, who had 63 points for the Boston Bruins last season.

The future Hall of Famer is also one of the last remaining links to the Czech Republic's greatest moment on the international stage - Olympic gold in 1998, the first year NHL players were eligible to participate. In the years since, Jagr has almost always made himself available to his national team, even after saying multiple times that he would retire from international play.

Last year's World Championship very well could have been the final international tournament of Jagr's career. He had eight points in 10 games as the Czechs finished fourth. Over his international career he has appeared in 80 World Championship games and 28 Olympic contests. Jagr also played in each of the previous two World Cup of Hockey tournaments in 1996 and 2004.

The logistics of this tournament, given his age and the proximity to the NHL season, did not set up too well for the living legend. He will be missed by both his team and the fans that hoped to see him, but he's already given a lot to his country on the international stage. Now he can put his full focus on helping the Panthers take yet another step forward after winning the Atlantic Division this year.

The final rosters for all teams playing in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which will be held Sept. 17 through Oct. 1, are expected to be submitted and announced by the end of the week.

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Jaromir Jagr will not be representing the Czech Republic at the World Cup of Hockey in September. USATSI