Could Jaromir Jagr be thinking about a return to the NHL? It sounds like he hasn't ruled it out.
Minutes after helping the Czech Republic defeat Russia for the bronze medal at the World Hockey Championship, Jagr was asked by the Edmonton Journal about the possibility of resuming his NHL career.
Jagr spent most of his 17-year NHL career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that now boasts two of the best players in the game.
"You never know. Maybe it will be still fun to go back to NHL. Maybe Pittsburgh. I don't know. Maybe Montreal. Maybe New York," Jagr told the Journal. "Pittsburgh, I played there for a long time. Mario (Lemieux) is the owner. It's better to play with great centres like (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin, this game is a little bit easier and I'm not young anymore."
After 11 seasons with the Penguins, Jagr was traded to the Washington Capitals, where he spent less than three years before moving on to the New York Rangers.
After the 2007-08 campaign, Jagr decided to sign with Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, where he has played at close to a point-per-game clip for three seasons.
But it sounds like Omsk may not be in his future, leaving the door open for a possible return to the NHL.
"I don't know if they really want me to come back or not. I feel they don't even want me to go back. I'll have to wait and see," Jagr told the Journal.
Should he return, Pittsburgh would not be the only team on his list of possible destinations.
"New York, I always had a great feeling about that city. They gave me a second chance. I never forget about that," Jagr told the newspaper. "And Montreal and Canada, it's totally different hockey. The fans are crazy about hockey and I've never played in Canada in my life. You never know."
In the NHL, Jagr scored 646 goals and added 953 assists for 1,599 points in 1,273 games. He won five scoring titles, one Hart Trophy and two Stanley Cups.
At the recent World Hockey Championship, he scored five goals and added four assists for nine points in nine games, including a hat-trick against the United States in the quarter-finals.
