Jaromir Jagr won’t be suiting up this weekend for his hometown team HC Kladno in the Czech Republic, according to a report.
Instead, the veteran forward will continue to wait and see if he can get a deal done with an NHL team.
“I won’t play for Kladno because there are still some negotiations in the NHL,” Jagr told iDNES.cz, which was translated by NHL.com. “Those teams don’t want me to play here and I have to respect that.”
“It is unpleasant because people expected I would play. On the other hand, we haven’t promised anything to anybody,” he said. “It would make no sense to meddle in something when I’m not 100 per cent sure that I stay here. I don’t [want to] interfere with someone who has a roster spot [in Kladno].”
While we don’t know which teams are in talks with the future Hall of Famer, reports this week have indicated that the St. Louis Blues are among the interested parties following the announcement that they’ll be without forward Robby Fabbri (knee) for the entire 2017-18 campaign.
Jagr spent the past three seasons with the Florida Panthers, who opted not to re-sign him this off-season. He tallied 16 goals and 46 points in 82 games in 2016-18, passing Mark Messier’s points total (1,887) in the process to gain sole possession of No. 2 in overall points in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky. Playing another season in the NHL would most likely see him beat Gordie Howe’s record for most games played (1,767).
The 45-year-old has registered 765 goals and 1,149 assists for 1,914 points in 1,711 career regular season games over the course of 23 NHL seasons.
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