Jaromir Jagr: I've gotten '0 calls' from teams hoping to sign me
— -- SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jaromir Jagr wants to play at least one more season in the NHL.
It's unclear if any team wants him.
The 45-year-old forward, not exactly a regular poster on social media, took to Twitter on Thursday to say that no team has shown any interest in signing him when the NHL's free-agent period begins on Saturday.
Jagr said he hasn't gotten any feelers from clubs and that no team has taken his calls, either. He said that everywhere he looks, he's seeing that free agents have gotten inquiries from 10 teams or more.
It was a rare method for Jagr to utilize when speaking out. He's been on Twitter for nearly six years, and averages about one tweet per month. And it may have worked -- not long after he tweeted, Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said he's spoken with Jagr's agent, Petr Svoboda.
"I just talked to his agent before I came on the stage and I'm going to talk to him again tomorrow," Tallon said, as he sat with new coach Bob Boughner and CEO Matthew Caldwell on the stage at the Panthers' Summer Summit meeting with fans. "And we'll see how it goes."
When Tallon said that, a few fans started chanting "Jagr! Jagr! Jagr!"
Jagr has spent the past 2 1/2 seasons with the Panthers. Jagr has also been skating at the team's practice facility, and was there earlier Thursday. Svoboda did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jagr had 16 goals and 30 assists for Florida last season, appearing in all 82 games. He's No. 2 on the NHL's all-time points list, along with being No. 3 in goals, No. 4 in games and No. 5 in assists.
He is the oldest free agent, by far, available this summer -- Shane Doan and Matt Cullen are next, both 40. The Panthers lost forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith to Vegas as part of the Golden Knights' expansion draft maneuvers. Take Marchessault out of the mix, and Jagr would be Florida's third-best returning scorer next season behind Vincent Trocheck and Aleksander Barkov.
Jagr was the NHL's MVP in 1999, is a five-time scoring champion and helped Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup back-to-back in 1991 and 1992. He's also helped his native Czech Republic win Olympic gold in 1998 and gold at the world championships in 2005 and 2010.
It has already been an offseason of change for the Panthers, who turned control of hockey operations fully back to Tallon in April and hired Boughner earlier this month as the franchise's 15th coach in 24 seasons. Boughner was a teammate of Jagr during his playing career, plus faced him as an opponent.
Florida finished with the 22nd-best record in the 30-team NHL, missing the Eastern Conference playoffs by 14 points in a season doomed by injuries and other struggles. The Panthers also fired coach Gerard Gallant early in the season, replacing him with then-general manager Tom Rowe -- who was not retained when the season ended.
The Panthers expect to be back in the playoff mix this season, with Tallon saying what went wrong last season can be fixed quickly -- and that he still believes in a young core that includes Trocheck, Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad and Nick Bjugstad. Barkov and Huberdeau have both raved about sharing a line with Jagr in the past.
"There's some great pieces in place," Boughner said.
Jagr is still waiting to hear if he's one of the pieces on that list.
