The New York Rangers need Artemi Panarin to be better.
While the 31 year-old leads the team in scoring with 73 points, he also owns a -3 rating. In contrast, Mika Zibanejad is second in scoring with 68 points, but is a +17. Simply put, the Breadman is becoming a far too high-risk player on the ice.
If the Rangers hope to win in the playoffs, he’s going to have to become a little more conservative with the puck. That’s not to say he should become a defensive-minded player, because it would be a terrible idea.
What the Rangers need is for him to be more selective when he wants to go all-out offensively. Panarin needs to be better situationally, and recognize when to push forward or pull back.
Artemi Panarin turnover problem
According to Hockey-Reference, Panarin leads the team in giveaways by a large margin with 85 this season. His next closest competitor is Adam Fox on defense, but it should be noted that he’s a +3 on the takeaways to giveaways ratio. Panarin on the other hand is a -56.
Panarin has always been an offensive-minded player, but he seems to be forcing plays more than ever before this season. In contrast, he was only a -15 between takeaways and giveaways last year.
Among players that have competed in 50 games this season, Panarin ranks fourth in Giveaways/60 at 3.85. It should be noted that David Pastrnak and Evgeni Malkin are two notable players ahead of him, but both have better takeaway numbers.
Panarin’s turnovers have become an issue this season as Igor Shesterkin is not posting the same video game numbers he did in 2021-22. The Rangers as a whole have been giving up too many high-danger chances and need to tighten up with the puck.
However, Panarin needs to improve dramatically in this department.
Last season, Panarin played more within the team concept and was ranked 21st in Giveaways/60 (2.95). Head coach Gerard Gallant will need his superstar puck distributor to get back to playing that way in order for this team get ready for the playoffs.
Rangers performance bonuses update
Per PuckPedia, the New York Rangers could find themselves anywhere between $825,000 to $875,000 in salary overage if a number of performance bonuses hit.
That means whatever that final amount is, it will count against the salary cap next season.
In others words, while the cap is going up by $1 million next season, the Blueshirts will likely have the majority of that eaten by performance bonuses.
New York’s cap situation for 2023-24 has them at 13 roster players signed with approximately $16.8 million in order to fill out the rest of the lineup.
Key RFAs
Key UFAs
- Patrick Kane
- Vladimir Tarasenko
- Tyler Motte
- Niko Mikkola
- Jaroslav Halak
