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The Penguins, hockey and more, by the PG's Seth Rorabaugh. |
Well... that was an interesting two weeks.
The Penguins have withdrawn their contract offer of one-year and $2 million to former captain Jaromir Jagr. And they managed to do it via press release:
"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," said Ray Shero, the team's executive vice president and general manager. "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."
EN Says: A few years ago, Jagr said of Mario Lemieux, ""I would play for the minimum salary. I would play for $350,000 just for him because I owe him my hockey life. I want to pay him back because he has made me what I am…besides my parents.”
Boy did that turn out to be a load of bunk.
Jagr had a chance to remove a nasty stain on his legacy with the Penguins with a return. But with his actions the past weeks, he has pretty much ripped it to shreds.
Bravo to the Penguins management for moving on. They gave him more than an fair chance to re-join the team. Lemieux, who is a very hands off owner, even got involved in some way with the discussions. Jagr just had to give them a simple answer one way or another. But at some point, Ray Shero needed to move on and handle the rest of his team.
Update: One of Jagr's other NHL suitors, the Red Wings, have withdrawn their offer as well.
(Photo: Post-Gazette archives)

It is very telling that two Cup-winning GMs had enough and pulled their offers from the table.
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