Penguins Pull $2 Million Offer To Jagr Off Table

When Jaromir Jagr had yet to make up his mind about the one year, $2 million offer Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero tabled him by the opening of free agency on Friday, he completely lost the ability to do so. Despite Shero's goal to ink the former Penguins for one more campaign in hopes of finishing out his career where it started, Jagr apparently took too long to make up his mind about a desired return to the NHL and the Steel City. Shero had other issues on his plate and those needed to be addressed without the burden of signing Jagr hanging over his head.

"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 released by 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."

Shero immediately turned around and gave that money to Tyler Kennedy, who will not see $2 million in each of the next two years on a total $4 million contract.

Limited in the cap space department, Shero didn't really have any other option but to pull out on Jagr. In order to keep components that were important to the long-term success of the franchise, he had to make this call after giving Jagr ample time to come back to Pittsburgh had that truly been his desired destination. Now the Penguins can be a player, albeit somewhat limited due to only have about $3-4 million remaining under the cap, on the open market.

It's also being reported that the Detroit Red Wings have taken themselves out of the mix for Jagr's services. They, too, have made a few moves and general manager Ken Holland has elected to go in a different directions, as well.

The Montreal Canadiens may still have an interest in the 39-year old Czech winger. There has also been a mystery team in the fray, though that could just be smoke being blown by agent Peter Svboda.

While there was a promising outlook on a Jagr return to the NHL when his intentions were first advertised, his options are not dwindling and going back to the KHL might be his lone card left to play.