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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.

Jagr, 45, isn't exactly a regular poster on social media, but he took to Twitter on Thursday to say that no team has shown any interest in signing him with the NHL's free-agent period set to begin 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.

Even the Florida Panthers are no longer interested after having Jagr for 2 1/2 seasons. According to TSN, Jagr's agent Petr Svoboda said on Saturday that the Panthers have cut ties with his client, and Jagr will be hitting the open market.

A person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Jagr and the Panthers were "nowhere close" on a salary for this coming season.

Panthers general manager Dale Tallon on Thursday said the window for re-signing Jagr is still open.

"Of course it is," Tallon said. "We've got until September, October."

It was a rare method for Jagr to utilize when speaking out. He has been on Twitter for nearly six years, and averages about one tweet per month.

The Panthers had a Summer Summit meeting with their fans on Thursday night, not long after Jagr posted his tweets, and naturally his future was among the topics of discussion.

For a team that hasn't won a playoff series in two decades, Jagr brought a certain prestige, both home and on the road. His jersey is easily among the most prevalent ones worn by fans at Florida home games.

"Everybody knows who he is," CEO Matthew Caldwell said. "He's got that personality for it, too. You can hear the fans. So excited."

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 also has 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 new coach Bob 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.