Posts Tagged ‘svoboda’
Jaromir signs in Philly. This shot of Jagr wont go down smooth in Pittsburgh
It’s official: Jaromir Jagr is returning to the NHL. But what was supposed to be a glorious homecoming of number 68 to the city of black and yellow has taken a turn for the worse. Jagr spurned the offer from the Penguins, instead opting to sign with their bitter rivals: the Philadelphia Flyers. Now the streets will be up in a blaze as the fromer Penguin’s jerseys will be burnt and the steel city will have a new public enemy number one. How did this happen? It was supposed to be between the Pens and the Red Wings. How did the Flyers steal one of Pittsburgh’s favorite sons? We will look at the answer below.
We must start at the beginning. Rumblings about Jagr’s return to the NHL began as soon as he left to play in Russia 3 years ago. His exodus from the league was driven by one thing: money (and lots of it). In Russia’s KHL, Jagr was making more than was allowed in the NHL (over $10 million a year tax free). But 2 years after returning to Europe, Jagr really fueled the speculation that he would return to North America. He was quoted as saying that he would be willing to return to Pittsburgh and play for the league minimum because of all that team owner Mario Lemieux has done for him. Fast forward to this summer, his contract in Russia was up and Pittsburgh was interested.