According to various sources, the Pittsburgh Penguins have withdrawn their one-year $2 million dollar offer to forward Jaromir Jagr.
The Penguins announced the decision via a press release just before the 12PM ET start of NHL free agency…
“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.”
You have to respect the decision of Penguins GM Ray Shero basically telling Jagr that they aren’t going to be jerked around by a 39 year old player whose been out of the NHL for the past few seasons. Jagr needs to realize that he isn’t the same player he was when he left and good teams aren’t going to be getting into bidding wars for his services.
The Red Wings have shown interest in Jagr as well as Montreal. Philadelphia has reportedly thrown there at into the Jagr sweepstakes as well.
UPDATE: The Red Wings have now withdrawn their 1 year offer to Jagr.
Source: Pittsburgh Penguins
