Jaromir Jagr Offered Contract by Penguins for Comeback

In a somewhat surprising move, the Pittsburgh Penguins culminated several days of rumors by offering former forward Jaromir Jagr a one-year contract worth $2 million.

Jagr, 39, a former 1990 draft pick by the Penguins, led the Penguins to two Stanley Cup Championships. He has currently been playing in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League for the past 3 years.

Rather than an attempt to add a high-quality player to the Penguins team, this seems like more of an insurance policy against future loss of offensive stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins were one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference before injuries forced both to miss the rest of the season.

Crosby was the victim of two hard head shots in the first week of January, resulting in serious concussion symptoms that lasted the rest of the season and kept him off the ice.

Malkin tore his ACL and MCL a short time later, leaving the Penguins without any solid scorers. Crosby missed half of the season, but remained the team's points leader for the entire season with 66 points in 41 games.

Will Jagr sign with Pittsburgh? I would imagine he will. Finishing his career in the city where it started should be appealing, and another season in the NHL would be very attractive as well.