Jaromir Jagr has dragged out his decision regarding his NHL return, and it appears as though the Pittsburgh Penguins are sick of it. General manager Ray Shero pulled his one year, $2 million offer for the Czech forward, who also, you know, happens to be one of the best players in franchise history. The Penguins announced the news via press release on Friday, just before the 12 p.m. start to the free agency season.
Jaromir Jagr Won’t Be Joining Pittsburgh Penguins After Team Pulls Offer
The statement from Shero:
”We made what we thought was a very fair contract offer to Jaromir on Tuesday, based on his stated interest of returning to the Penguins. We made our best offer from the start, given our salary cap structure, in an attempt to facilitate a deal. But now, after several days, with an extended time frame for making a decision, and additional teams getting involved, we have decided to move in a different direction. It was never our intention to get involved in a free agent bidding war, and we have to focus on our team.
“Jaromir is one of the greatest players in Penguins history, and we wish him all the best.”
There are other teams likely willing to get involved in that bidding war -- Detroit is definitely interested, Montreal is reportedly involved and Philadelphia has kicked the tires internally on the Jagr option as well. He likely will end up somewhere in the NHL after all is said and done, but it won’t be in Pittsburgh. Sorry, nostalgia.
For more on the Pens and fan reaction to this decision, check in with Pensburgh.
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