Penguins owner Mario Lemieux may have been more upset about how Jaromir Jagr spurned his franchise to go to Philadelphia in the summer of 2011 than we thought.

And Lemieux may have carried that grudge longer than assumed, as well.

Former Penguins player and current team radio broadcaster Phil Bourque made an appearance on WDVE Thursday morning (you can hear it at the 1:02:50 mark of this link). He relayed a story about a trip he took to the Czech Republic during the Penguins’ recent off-week.

While he was there, Bourque saw Jagr play with the team that he owns, Rytíři Kladno. Bourque said that during their hour-long visit, Jagr opened up about why he decided to join the Flyers in the summer of 2011 and how Lemieux responded to getting spurned for a hated rival.

Via Bourque, Jagr told him that he chose the Flyers because he felt he would’ve only been a “third-liner or fourth-liner” in Pittsburgh. But he knew that the Flyers would put him on one of the top two lines.

Jagr ended up with 19 goals and 54 points that year. Then he was part of a Philadelphia team that eliminated the Penguins in the postseason. He was also on the Bruins when they bounced the Pens in 2013.

Jagr had made a comment two years prior to signing in Philly that he would play for the league minimum to come back to Pittsburgh.

The way Bourque relayed the story, Lemieux and the Penguins took that suggestion somewhat seriously, whereas Jagr described himself as “saying things, just to say things.”

“Well guess what, Jags,” Bourque said. “We believed you.”

In the end, Lemieux seemed to buy that idea, too.

Despite Lemieux reaching out to Jagr in hopes of getting him to return to Pittsburgh after seven years of glory to start his career, Jagr signed a one-year, $3.3 million deal in Philadelphia in July 2011. The Pens allegedly offered a one-year, $2 million contract.

Bourque told the audience that Jagr got the vibe that Lemieux was still upset about that turn of events when the men met at the NHL 100 ceremony in January 2017.

“I’m paraphrasing here,” Bourque explained. “But (Jagr said) Mario was chafed. Mario was (ticked). That was the first time he had ever seen Mario (ticked) at him. Because Mario went out of his way and actually called (Jagr) to make this happen and thought it was a done deal, and all of the sudden the Flyers got in the mix and they scooped him.

“He knew that he had wronged Mario, and there is no way to right that wrong now.”

If there was any tension from Lemieux that NHL 100 night, it wasn’t evident when this photo was taken of all the Penguins greats who were at the event.

Thought of this photo when I heard Phil Bourque on @dveradio THURS morn. https://t.co/RQMWM0uaYA

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) January 31, 2020

Nor was there an ill word to be spoken, as Lemieux praised Jagr for still being healthy enough to play competitively at the age of 44 at that time.

However, Bourque still insisted he feels the Penguins will eventually retire Jagr’s jersey at PPG Paints Arena. One hitch is that Jagr wants to keep playing hockey in the Czech Republic until he is 50 years old. He doesn’t want to consider a jersey retirement until then.

Bourque says Jagr is trying to make the process about his own introspection.

“He basically said (of signing with the Flyers)—in a self-infliction type of way—that ‘I was being selfish. I was taking care of me.’ You don’t like to hear that. But also, there’s a part of you that, maybe, understands it.”

Jagr’s sense, though, appears to be that Lemieux may not quite concur. And some fence-mending may need to happen on Jagr’s part before we see a kumbaya moment between the Penguins organization and one of its all-time greats.

Even if many fans are ready to see it happen.

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