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Pittsburgh homecoming for Jaromir Jagr? It could happen

Canada v Czech Republic - 2010 IIHF World Championship

MANNHEIM, GERMANY - MAY 18: Jaromir Jagr of Czech Republic waites for face off during the IIHF World Championship group F qualification round match between Canada and Czech Republic at SAP Arena on May 18, 2010 in Mannheim, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Bongarts/Getty Images

Ever since Jaromir Jagr left the NHL to play in Russia in the KHL for Avangard Omsk, fans have always wondered whether or not the NHL legend would want to come back to the league where he dominated and dazzled fans. In his time with the Penguins, Capitals, and Rangers over 17 seasons, Jagr scored 646 goals and amassed 1,599 points. For the last three years in Russia, he’s continued to score goals totaling 66 goals and 146 points and he’s played outstanding for the Czech Republic both in the Olympics and the World Championships of late.

At 39 years-old and still playing great hockey and his contract up with Omsk, speculation has fired up once again that Jagr could come back to the NHL. Making things even more interesting this time around is that the Penguins are apparentlyinterested in establishing a line of communication with Jagr once again as Penguins GM Ray Shero wants to reach out to the Penguins legend.

As for Jagr’s interest in perhaps coming back, he’s playing things cool for the time being.

“It’s too early for me, I don’t really know what I want to do next year,” Jagr said Tuesday. “I don’t know where I want to play. Right now I just want to concentrate for this tournament, it’s not going to be more than one week.

“Then I have to make a decision.”


While that might sound a bit surly reading it, Jagr’s Czech Republic team will be seeking to win their second straight World Championships and with an elimination round game against Team USA coming up his focus is on bigger things at the moment.

If you’re wondering if he’s amenable to going back to Pittsburgh, he’s got good feelings about the city even in spite of the way he bolted town for Washington back in 2001.

“The fans in Pittsburgh, they all wanted to help me and they all liked me when I was younger,” said Jagr. “Plus the biggest thing is I had a chance to watch and play with the best player ever and that’s probably the best thing that happened to me in my life.”

With the way 40 year-olds Teemu Selanne and Nicklas Lidstrom are performing still in the NHL, you can’t blame Jagr for considering coming back to the NHL. After all, age hasn’t really caught up to him either and with the right motivation and the right setting it’d be ideal for Jagr to come back. Getting to ride shotgun with either Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby would certainly do a lot to help keep him scoring goals.

We’re suckers for nostalgia here and we’d fully geek out to see Jagr ride once again in the league regardless of where he ended up playing. Having him go back to Pittsburgh certainly makes for a much more dramatic and heartwarming story but if you want to put Jagr in Edmonton or Miami that’s fine too. Having all the biggest stars in the NHL, regardless of how old they are, helps make the game great. If Jagr can come back and be a 20-30 goal guy at this point in his career it’d be fantastic to have him back.