PRAGUE, 8 November 2004 — Czech winger Jaromir Jagr has signed a contract with Russian ice hockey champions Avangard Omsk, leaving the Czech League where he has been playing during a labor dispute that has shut down North America’s National Hockey League (NHL).
Jagr’s coach Marian Jelinek said the New York Rangers player would join the Russian team, currently in 12th position at home, by the end of next week.
The 32-year old Jagr, who wears shirt No. 68 to symbolize his opposition to the 1968 Soviet invasion of the former Czechoslovakia, is joining a number of other NHL players lured by the Russian Superleague, the richest competition outside the United States and Canada.
He dominated the Czech League, scoring 11 goals and 17 assists in just 17 matches for Kladno this season.
Jelinek told Czech news agency CTK that Jagr had agreed terms with Avangard until the end of the season although his contract included a clause that provided for his immediate release if the NHL stoppage ended.
The right wing, who won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer for four consecutive seasons between 1998 and 2001, will be the highest-paid player in the Russian league, topping the $1.6 million salary of AK Bars Kazan forward Ilja Kovalchuk.
Avangard, who are sponsored in part by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and Kazan have among the highest budgets in the Russian League.
In Omsk, Jagr will join other former NHL players such as defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky and forward Sergei Krivokrasov.
Jagr, 32, led his country to the 1998 Olympic gold medal in Nagano and won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburg Penguins in 1991 and 1992.
NHL owners voted in September to lock out players after the two sides were unable to reach a new labor deal. More than 230 NHL players have moved to Europe to ride out the dispute.
