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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. >> The New Jersey Devils have signed forward Jaromir Jagr to make up for some of the scoring lost with the recent retirement of Ilya Kovalchuk.
Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello announced the signing Tuesday. The one-year contract is worth $2 million.
The 41-year-old Jagr split last season with the Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins, scoring a combined 16 goals and 19 assists in 45 games. The NHL’s active leading scorer added 10 assists in helping the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup final, but he did not score a postseason goal.
Jagr has 681 goals and 1,007 assists in 1,391 career regular-season games with Pittsburgh, Washington, the New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Dallas and Boston. He won Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 1990-91 and 1991-92 as well as the league MVP in 1998-99.
It is not known if Jagr will wear his famous No. 68 with New Jersey. The Devils have only ever allowed three players to wear jersey numbers higher than No. 34 in their history — Doug Gilmour (93), Alexander Mogilny (89) and Stephane Richer (44).
A native of the Czech Republic, Jagr has won five NHL scoring titles. Entering his 20th NHL season, he ranks 34th all-time in games played, tenth in goals, 12th in assists and eighth in points. Among current NHL players, he ranks first in goals, assists and points, and second in games played.
Jagr has played for three teams — Flyers, Stars and Bruins — since returning to the NHL in 2011 after a brief stay in Russia’s KHL, where Kovalchuk will play next season after his sudden decision to leave New Jersey.
