Penguins “remain very much in the picture” for Shane Doan as Greg Jamison still doesn’t have money to close deal yet

Shane Doan and agent Terry Bross looked to put pressure on the Coyotes, Greg Jamison yesterday, indicating they needed to receive word from Jamison by the end of Friday that he is close to officially purchasing the team or they were going to start seriously negotiating with other teams and possibly signing elsewhere by end of next week.

After originally planning to fly out to the east coast on Thursday to begin visiting another shortlist of teams (visited NYR, PHI last week) that was to include a visit to Pittsburgh on Friday, sources confirmed, Doan cancelled those plans on Wednesday morning as they believed they would receive actual word from Jamison by Friday who has had limited contact with Doan and Bross in the past couple weeks. Doan’s camp remains under the belief that Jamison doesn’t have the money to close the deal.

Doan and Jamison did meet face to face this morning, and barring some surprising positive developments coming from Jamison today indicating he is close to finalizing the sale, Doan intends to head back out to the east coast and it appears Pittsburgh remains a destination to visit. In fact, agent Terry Bross appears ready to pull the plug on Phoenix, but Doan obviously has the final call here and could give Jamison more time as Jamison is trying to bring other investors on-board.

Meanwhile, despite having constant contact with Doan’s camp, there’s been chatter going around in the past 48 hours that the Penguins regard themselves as big longshots to sign Doan, but agent Terry Bross continues to insist that the Penguins remain a strong contender for Doan, while confirming other teams in fact have been eliminated or have dropped out of the mix. Bross says the Penguins haven’t been one of those teams and he remains in frequent contact with GM Ray Shero.

“They {Pittsburgh} are very much in the picture, ” Bross told Inside Pittsburgh Sports.com on Saturday afternoon.

Talk of Doan demanding a 4 year, $30 million has also been denied by Bross, but it’s been clear for weeks that Doan is commanding at least a three to four year deal in excess of $5 million per season. One source told me Doan has at least two four year offers in the $22 – $25 million range. The belief is that if Doan signs with Pittsburgh he could be leaving as much as $10 million on the table. Pittsburgh is believed to have no interest in going four years for Doan but have expressed a willingness to go three years.

Those in league circles regard the New York Rangers as one of the top favorites to sign Doan.