Pens give up on Jagr, but sign two

Associated Press

NEW YORK

So much for this being an unattractive bunch of NHL free agents.

While Dallas Stars center Brad Richards was considered the cream of a small elite crop of players available on the open market, dozens of other players reached deals Friday in the first few hours of the shopping season.

“You saw quite a bit of money spent today,” Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli said.

Teams had plenty of it, working under a new salary cap ceiling of $64.3 million cap — a $4.9 million increase over last season.

As afternoon turned into night, the highly coveted Richards still hadn’t cashed in and picked a new team to join. He was wooed all day long while sitting in his agent’s office in Ottawa, welcoming some teams who made in-person pitches.

The New York Rangers and Toronto were considered to be the favorites to eventually land him.

Columbus started the signing frenzy when it locked up defenseman James Wisniewski with a six-year, $33 million deal an hour before he would have become an unrestricted free agent.

The biggest name to find a new home Friday was 39-year-old Jaromir Jagr, who is returning to the NHL from Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League after three seasons.

All signs pointed to Jagr going back to the Penguins, the team he broke in with and won the Stanley Cup twice during his early years with Mario Lemieux. But the Penguins pulled their reported $2 million off the table Friday morning.

Soon after, the Flyers announced they came to terms with the big forward on a one-year, $3.3 million contract. Jagr has 646 goals and 1,599 points in 18 NHL seasons.

“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,” Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said.

The addition of Jagr was just the latest step in the constant makeover of the Flyers, who last week traded forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Philadelphia also grabbed gritty forward Max Talbot away from the Penguins with a five-year deal worth $9 million and cut ties with fellow forwards Ville Leino and Kris Versteeg.

The Penguins also lost rugged forward Mike Rupp to the Rangers, for three years and $4.5 million. Pittsburgh recovered by re-signing forward Tyler Kennedy for two years and $4 million, and added 36-year-old Steve Sullivan, who left Nashville for a one-year, $1.5 million deal.