Morning Skate: Are we getting closer to a Jaromir Jagr signing?

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Lace ’em up. Time for the Morning Skate.

It’s quite the tragedy that all-time NHL great Jaromir Jagr has remained unsigned in free agency to this day. The wait has been so long for the 45-year-old forward that he already has a plan in place to play in the Czech Republic should no NHL teams come calling.

On Tuesday, fans got a bit of an update on Jagr’s situation, and it’s hard to say if anything’s changed on the matter. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke to NHL Network and, in transcriptions from FanRag Sports, the Calgary Flames may be interested in signing Jagr. Specifically, Friedman said the Flames have “kind of looked at” adding Jagr to their roster, likely because head coach Glen Gulutzan coached the winger when the pair were with the Dallas Stars.

Friedman also nixed rumors that the Anaheim Ducks were in on Jagr, just a day after the Los Angeles Kings came out and said he doesn’t “fit in” with their plans.

For now, it seems like both sides are playing waiting games. Friedman believes Jagr is “patient enough to wait for the right opportunity” since he’ll have so many options from the NHL to overseas in the Czech Republic. However, it’s getting almost absurd that no team has shown serious interest in a player who can still produce just fine at his age.

While it’s nice to hear Jagr’s name back out there in the market, we’re coming ever closer to the start of training camp and the finalization of opening night rosters. The other 30 NHL teams will no doubt be remiss if they don’t take a look at Jagr before it’s too late.

We’ve hit that point in the summer where professional tryout contracts are handed out to those free agents looking for their last chances to make a difference on an NHL team. Jagr likely doesn’t qualify here, since he’s no doubt asking for a more stable situation, but there are still some big names on the list for this season.

Since we’re nearing ever closer to training camp, we put together all you need to know about PTOs and which players are likely to sign them. Go wild, folks!

We’ve hit the final few spots of our Top 25 Under 25 rankings, and Nikita Kucherov’s impressive résumé has him sitting pretty at No. 3. Rounding out the top five has been David Pastrnak at No. 5 and Patrik Laine at No. 4. You can probably guess who the last two are.

As always, you can follow along with our entire rankings right here as we count down the league’s top 25 players under the age of 25.

Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg has said he may not play out his full contract in Detroit. Instead, he will reportedly opt out after two more seasons.