The Washington Capitals got the star they've been searching for when general manager George McPhee engineered the strange deal in which the club landed arguably the best player in the NHL, Jaromir Jagr, from the Pittsburgh Penguins for three prospects and future considerations.

The Capitals sent Kris Beech, Michal Sivek and Ross Lupaschuk to Pittsburgh for Jagr and veteran Frantisek Kucera. And, according to league sources, the Caps will also pay the Penguins about $5 million over the next two seasons.

The deal speaks to the rising problem of payroll for smaller market clubs such as the Penguins, who have the oldest building in the NHL, void of many of the revenue streams provided in new stadiums such as the MCI Centre in Washington.

Jagr, who will make more than $20 million in the remaining two years of his contract, was simply making too much money for the Penguins, who still have to sign several free agents. The Penguins, who are owned by Mario Lemieux, made it very clear they could not afford Jagr, and spent the early part of this summer listening to offers.

When it came right down to it, there were not many offers. According to one western conference GM, the only serious bids came from the New York Rangers and Capitals -- and each team offered mostly unknown prospects.

In fact, the Caps had rebuffed a previous proposal by the Penguins for young players who were already on their roster. The Penguins then shopped Jagr around, hoping to get a better offer from the Rangers.

In the end, general manager Craig Patrick liked the three kids from Washington's system, and he will try to stitch them into the team where they are being projected as a big part of the future when Lemieux retires in a few seasons.

The risk, of course, is that Lemieux again suffers a back injury, or is otherwise unable to play, in which case the Penguins would have lost their two star attractions.

"I would not be shocked if all three of these guys played in the NHL this season," said McPhee when asked about the three players he sent to Pittsburgh. "I'm not saying they all will, not this season, but the reason we were able to make this deal is because of the way we have drafted. These are legitimate NHL prospects."

It has been very obvious since the end of last season that the Caps were in the mode to add a star to their lineup. Although Eric Lindros had named the Caps as one of the teams he was interested in joining, McPhee showed little interest in Lindros.

McPhee did show interest in Jeremy Roenick, and complained loudly when the Flyers got permission from Phoenix to talk to Roenick, and reached a deal with the pending free agent two days before the free-agency signing period.

Washington also was unable to lure free agent Pierre Turgeon from St. Louis, and Turgeon eventually signed in Dallas. One way or another, the Caps were determined to get an impact player. In this case, losing out on their first couple of choices ended up in their favor as they wound up with the league's top scorer in the past four seasons -- and the offensive player with the star appeal the franchise needs.

Al Morganti covers the NHL for ESPN.