Jagr's comeback will start with the Flyers

IT WASN'T Mikael Renberg, or Karl Dykhuis or even Brent Fedyk.

But it was a blast from the past. And that blast ended up being one of the biggest splashes on a Free Agency Friday Frenzy that saw nearly $300 million doled out to more than 60 players as the Flyers continued to revamp their drastically different roster.

Yesterday, the Flyers signed former Hart Trophy winner Jaromir Jagr to a 1-year, $3.3 million deal, snatching the right winger out from under the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings, who were long thought to be the front-runners for his services.

Jagr, 39, last played in the NHL in 2008, when he racked up 71 points in 82 games for the New York Rangers. He has spent the last three seasons playing in Russia.

Why Jagr?

The Flyers devoted one of their full-time scouts covering the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia to follow Jagr. They had more eyes focused on him at the World Championships in May, when he netted a hat trick against the United States and was named to the All-Star team.

"He's still a good player," general manager Paul Holmgren said. "People forget, I think, because he's been away from the NHL for 3 years, that he's been playing and playing at a fairly high level. We know he can play at this level.

"And we believe he can still put up a lot of points."

After all, Jagr is ninth all-time on the NHL points list, having accumulated 1,599 points in 1,273 games. He is a five-time NHL scoring champion and a two-time Stanley Cup winner.

Jagr will become the 10th of 21 first-round draft picks from the Class of 1990 to suit up for the Flyers, joining Petr Nedved, Keith Primeau, Mike Ricci, Derian Hatcher, John Slaney, Turner Stevenson, Mark Greig, Dykhuis and Shawn Antoski.

Despite being in the United States since Wednesday, Jagr did not make himself available to the media yesterday.

Those who know him best say this is a different, more mature Jagr than the one that was mostly seen as a flake during his 17 seasons in the NHL. Some immediately questioned whether he would fit in Peter Laviolette's up-tempo, aggressive forechecking system where defensive zone play is not an option but a requirement. Holmgren was quick to put that to bed.

Not only was Laviolette consulted before the move, but Jagr even went as far as asking the coach about his practice tendencies.

"He wanted to know how our practices were, what types of practices do we go through," Holmgren said. "He said, 'I need to be on the ice, honing my skills, working on things,' so I think all of those things were a positive for us."

Holmgren said Chris Pronger and Danny Briere both had conversations with Jagr about his fitness level.

"He's always been a gifted player," Holmgren said. "I think over the last few years, he's really taken on an approach where fitness is a real big thing with him and looking after himself and making sure he can still play at a high level."

The Flyers were the highest bidder for his rights, as Pittsburgh and Detroit slowly rescinded their offers early yesterday morning - before the free agency signing period even began. Penguins general manager Ray Shero confirmed his offer was for 1 year and $2 million.

Jagr's agent, former Flyers defenseman Petr Svoboda, even went as far to say that his client's "heart belonged in Pittsburgh," where he spent 11 years. Some reports indicated that Jagr had something like a gentleman's agreement with former teammate and Penguins owner Mario Lemieux to sign with Pittsburgh.

"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," Shero said. "After several days, with an extended time frame for making a decision and additional teams getting involved, we have decided to move in a different direction."

Holmgren said the discussion started "innocently" with a text message to Svoboda, who is also the agent for newly acquired forward Jakub Voracek from Columbus, asking about Jagr. Voracek, who was a restricted free agent, also inked a 1-year, $2.25 million deal yesterday.

Though the risk may be something similar to what Holmgren did last July in signing Nik Zherdev to a 1-year, $2 million contract, it's safe to say the Flyers are banking for more out of Jagr.

Jagr was just the beginning of a dizzying day of deals for Holmgren, as the Flyers also signed Anaheim free-agent defenseman Andreas Lilja and forward Maxime Talbot from Pittsburgh.

Lilja, soon to be 36, signed a 1-year deal. He played 52 games with Anaheim last season, won a Stanley Cup in Detroit, and is expected to fill the sixth defenseman role.

Talbot, 27, signed a 5-year deal worth $9 million. The classic agitator with a reputation as a "glue guy" in the locker room, had 21 points in 82 games with the Penguins last season, and scored both Pittsburgh goals in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup final, a 2-1 win over the host Red Wings.

"For me, leaving Pittsburgh was never easy," Talbot said. "It's obviously going to be really challenging, it's such a big rivalry. But when it was time to move, I wanted to make the right one for me and for the team I was going to go to. A couple guys called me from the Flyers today and were just telling me what a great place it is to play in Philly."

Nearly 2 weeks after declaring there wouldn't be a fire sale for the Flyers, eight players are gone off of last year's roster, which many considered to be a Cup contending team.

And the Flyers aren't done yet. Holmgren left himself about $4.1 million under the $64.3 million salary cap, which could be enough room to make a run at a big ticket-type player. Holmgren said he spoke to Simon Gagne's representation and even made a pitch for top free agent Brad Richards.

"We're still looking around," Holmgren said. "You just never know." *

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

www.philly.com/FrequentFlyers. Follow him on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.