Red Wings Lose Out On Jagr, Signs With Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Jaromir Jagr, GM Paul Holmgren announced Friday afternoon.
The deal is reported to be for one year at $3.3 million.
In a shocking turn of events, the Pittsburgh Penguins withdrew their offer to Jaromir Jagr earlier in the day. To make it even crazier, the Red Wings dropped out too.
GM Ray Shero had hoped to have an answer from Jagr by now, but things have changed in the last 24 hours. Since Jagr flew to the United States, the list of potential suitors that was believed to be two (Penguins and Red Wings) or maybe three has grown.
"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," Shero said in a statement. "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."
The Penguins were believed to be the favorite to sign Jagr and bring him back to the NHL. The 39-year-old spent 11 seasons with the Pens and is near the top of all the franchise's records.
