Opting to cut ties with Artemi Panarin carries big risk in Rangers’ retool
The New York Rangers’ open letter to fans this week proclaiming the intent to retool their roster, rather than undertake a full rebuild, apparently included at least one very important fact that wasn’t stated publicly.
According to multiple media reports, general manger Chris Drury informed star forward Artemi Panarin, who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, that the team won’t offer him a contract extension. The Rangers reportedly will look to deal him before the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6 — though Panarin has a no-movement clause, meaning he can say where he would agree to go, or not go at all.
“It’s hard to say how I feel,” he said after scoring two goals and assisting on another in the Rangers’ 6-3 road win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. “I’m still confused, but the GM decided to go in a different direction. I’m OK with that. I’m a Ranger player right now, so I’ll play every game 100 percent.”
While Panarin could bring back a significant return as the Rangers looks to get younger, the decision seems curious at best, and perhaps disastrous at worst.
“This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects,” Drury wrote. What the GM didn’t do in the letter is specify who those “core players” are. It would be difficult to find many people who wouldn’t consider the team’s leading scorer in each of his seven seasons with the Rangers to be a member of that group, even at age 34.
Artemi Panarin still going strong this season for Rangers
Panarin turns 35 on Oct. 30 and is undoubtedly looking for one more big payday after making his seven-year, $81.5 million contract ($11.642 million average annual value) with the Rangers look like a bargain. If he’s slowing down at all, it’s minimal, as evidenced by games like his two-goal, one-assist performance in the win at Philadelphia.
Panarin has a team-leading 54 points (18 goals, 36 assists) in 48 games this season — and 604 points in 478 contests since signing with the Rangers on July 1, 2019.
“I obviously think the world of him,” coach Mike Sullivan said after Saturday’s game. “He’s an elite player. He’s one of the best Rangers of his generation.”
In deciding that Panarin’s time in New York is nearly up, it’s fair to question whether the team is taking his team-record 1.26 points per game during those six-plus seasons for granted.
Panarin’s game is predicated on his elite vision, offensive instincts and shifty elusiveness — not speed or strength. There’s plenty of reason to believe that his game will age well as Panarin moves into his late 30s. It would hardly be surprising for him to go elsewhere and continue to produce at a level similar to the one he reached with the Rangers, for whom he’s turned in four seasons of at least 90 points.
The Rangers, expected to be armed with around $30 million in salary-cap space this summer, watched as what looked like a dream unrestricted free-agent class dwindled to essentially nothing, with Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel, Martin Necas and Kyle Connor, among others, all re-upping with their current teams.
If Panarin reaches free agency, he’ll be the biggest name on the market, and he’s sure to be offered a lucrative contract by someone, especially with the NHL salary cap set to rise again. That the Blueshirts have money to spend and don’t want to engage with arguably the best free agent available seems at least somewhat difficult to understand.
Panarin jumped at the chance to come to New York seven years ago; he was willing to sign with a team that had formally declared its intention in a letter a year and a half earlier to turn over its roster. But then-GM Jeff Gorton didn’t hesitate to bring in an established, high-priced veteran, envisioning Panarin as a player who could help bridge the gap from rebuild to championship contention. The Russian star would, in theory, provide offense as the Rangers’ young players developed into bigger roles, and then be a critical piece on a team that would make runs at the Stanley Cup.
Panarin did just that. He piled up 95 points in 69 games in 2019-20, his first season with the Rangers, and almost certainly would have reached 100 for the first time had the season not been cut short due to Covid-19. By 2021-22, the Blueshirts were indeed ready to make a deep run toward the Stanley Cup Final, coming within two wins of defeating the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
Panarin put up 49 goals and 120 points in 2023-24, helping the Rangers win the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s regular-season champion. They again reached the conference final but came up two wins short against the eventual champion Florida Panthers. But it proved to be the ceiling for that group, as the Rangers endured an ugly non-playoff season in 2024-25 and appear headed in that direction again.
If there is a complaint about Panarin among the fan base, it’s that he failed to carry his dominant ways into the postseason — turning in a few big moments in 46 playoff contests with the Rangers but often failing to be a consistent difference-maker.
Panarin never stopped scoring in the regular season for the Rangers — yet Drury apparently views his value to the team to be greater as a trade chip than a member of the roster going forward. That he doesn’t feel Panarin could provide the same kind of presence Gorton saw — someone who could help pave the way back to contention — speaks to their differing philosophies on how to achieve that goal, as well as the fact that he’s in his mid-30s rather than his late 20s.
There is the matter of Panarin’s alleged off-ice transgressions that could be factoring into Drury’s — and perhaps upper management’s — thinking. Panarin took a three-week leave of absence during the 2020-21 season after being accused of getting into a physical altercation with a young woman in 2011. He and the Rangers claimed Panarin was being targeted for publicly opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Another report emerged last April saying that Panarin and Madison Square Garden Sports had paid financial settlements to a former team employee who made sexual assault accusations against the player; that incident allegedly occurred in 2023.
Whether that’s significant in Drury’s decision, the Rangers seem fine with the idea of saying goodbye to a prolific scorer whose creativity has added a dynamic dimension to their offense. If the GM has incorrectly assessed his ability to replace Panarin’s production, via trade and/or development of younger players, the Rangers’ stated intention to undertake a retool rather than a rebuild could end up necessitating the latter instead.
