Photo: Mike Lynaugh

It's pretty incredible how information spreads these days.

David Staples posts a few hours ago about Jaromir Jagr joining the Oilers, apparently this season, according to a source close to the former Rangers captain. He updates within an hour with a denial from the Oilers, but the cat's out of the bag, so to speak. 

Less than an hour later, it's up on TSN, ESPN and just about everywhere else.

And some rather disappointed Oilers fans are calling Staples a boob (among other things).

The original report obviously had some flaws — no mention of the fact Jagr would have to clear waivers in order to get to the Oilers roster — but I think it's fair to say that there's some basis for it. The Oilers do have cap space, especially without Lubomir Visnovsky on the roster, and they pursued Jagr heavily in the off-season. It doesn't surprise me in the least that they might at some point revisit that.

And, as Tyler Dellow notes, it's not impossible that Edmonton might at least ponder the idea that they could slip Jagr on a bloated deal past 29 other teams. The majority of the well-moneyed clubs are pretty cash strapped, and a large term for 2009-10 for a player that turns 37 on Sunday would be a risk.

That said, that all seems pretty farfetched.

Could it happen next season? Maybe.

One interesting footnote to all this is multiple suggestions out there that team president Kevin Lowe is overseas. ESPN's Pierre LeBrun ended his blog entry with this tidbit:

Still, did we tell you that the cell phone of Oilers president Lowe rang with an overseas tone when we dialed it Tuesday?

Lowe, meanwhile, is quoted by the European journalist from who Staples's first Jagr-related report originated. So far, not a single North American source has talked to Lowe.

If you read the tea leaves, there's something there. Or they're scouting Alexei Mikhnov again.