Music: {allcanada} Agent for Jagr to talk with Pens, Wings, Canadiens

Thursday, June 30, 2011

{allcanada} Agent for Jagr to talk with Pens, Wings, Canadiens

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Jaromir Jagr reportedly has arrived in New York after a whirlwind travel day Wednesday while his agent, Petr Svoboda, is set to meet with Pittsburgh General Manager Ray Shero on Thursday morning, likely to discuss the contract offer the Penguins have on the table for the 39-year-old Czech superstar.

The Penguins' offer reportedly is for one year and $2 million.

"We are going to exchange some things," Svoboda told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "This is obviously a tough decision for Jaromir. His heart is in Pittsburgh."

Svoboda told the newspaper that he also would speak with the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens on Thursday as both teams have interest in signing Jagr. Svoboda said he expects his client to make a decision Thursday, but Jagr can't sign a contract until noon ET on Friday, when the NHL free agent market opens.

Jagr, who played the last three seasons in Russia, was expected to make his decision on whether he would return to the NHL on Wednesday, but that never happened and by the end of the night Svoboda had told the Detroit Free Press that he wasn't sure of his client's whereabouts.

Shero and Detroit GM Ken Holland told NHL.com late Wednesday that they had not heard from Jagr's camp. Shero said he was working on signing his own players, and minutes later the Penguins announced they had re-signed Arron Asham to a one-year, $775,000 deal.

Jagr is ninth all-time in the NHL in scoring with 1,599 points, just 42 behind Joe Sakic. He has played in 1,273 NHL games over 17 seasons, including the first 11 in Pittsburgh, where he won the Stanley Cup twice, the 1999 Hart Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy five times and the Lester B. Pearson Award (now Ted Lindsay Award) four times.

"He was an icon in Pittsburgh," Shero told the Tribune-Review. "We'd like to see him finish his career here."

Jagr hasn't played in the NHL since the end of the 2007-08 season. The last time Jagr played in North America was at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he carried the flag for the Czech Republic. He won gold at the 1998 Olympics and bronze at the 2006 Games.